[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="460"]<img alt="" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01373/swan-lake_1373804c.jpg" width="460" height="288" /> Swans in formation, http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01373/swan-lake_1373804c.jpg[/caption]

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Swan Lake is a ballet originally composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1877. It's legacy continues in modern performances and reinterpretations of the piece and it should be preserved because of both it's persistence and the way it transcended the nationalist dogma of the time.

The story features Prince Siegfried as a passionate man forced by the Queen to find a bride. He encounters Odette while out hunting, who has been cursed to turn into a swan during the day by the sorcerer Von Rothbart. Odette and Siegfried fall in love, and it's explained that this will break the curse. Later at a palace ball, Von Rothbart appears with his daughter Odile. Siegfried is deceived and believes Odile to be Odette so he pledges his love to Odile. He realizes his error and finds Odette. The two commit suicide, breaking the curse for the other swans and killing Von Rothbart.

When Swan Lake was released Russia was in a period of social change brought about the Industrial Revolution. Trailing behind the other European powers in this adoption, it held onto the hierarchy of the Aristocratic system. France served as an inspiration for arts and there was a growing desire for a Russian voice in the arts. Nationalism was ubiquitous across Europe and foreshadowed World War 1 in 1914. Tchaikovsky attended two newly formed schools meant to foster this creativity, The Russian Music Society and the St. Petersburg Conservatoire. He was also influenced by a group of operatic and orchestral composers known as the five: Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Modeste Petrovich Moussorgsky, Milli Alexievich Balakirev, Alexander Borodin, and Cesar Antonovitch Cui. "These  men were undoubtedly gifted musicians and they had done much to establish music in Russian life but they were in Tchaikovsky's eyes, talented amateurs with other professions which the world took more seriously" (Hossick). Also of importance was the fact that Tchaikovsky was a closeted homosexual in a religious country that was openly hostile to homosexuality. His marriage to a former student, Antonina Miliukova, was incredibly taxing on him but was seen to be a part of his responsibility as a man.

Swan Lake is typical of other ballets such as <em>La sylphide</em> and <em>Giselle</em> because it draws from fairy tales for narrative. All sound comes from music which is meant to convey the mood of the scene, and choreography utilized the <em>arabesque </em>style of dancing popularized by French ballet.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="437"]<img class="   " alt="" src="http://balletnews.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/SwanLake024.jpg" width="437" height="312" /> Arabesque pose from Swan Lake, http://balletnews.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/SwanLake024.jpg[/caption]

Odette and Odile perpetuate Romantic stereotypes of women. "Romantic writers inherited the dual view of womankind that had prevailed since the Middle Ages: like Eve, woman was the <i>femme fatale</i>, the seducer and destroyer of mankind; like Mary, however, woman was the source of salvation and the symbol of all that was pure and true" (Fiero). Tchaikovsky was strongly influenced by the work of Beethoven and Wagner, using nuance during the repetition of themes to create different moods. In the theme of the opera a solo oboe plays a set of notes and concludes with a low note. This sequence is then played back with the entire orchestra to emphasize the build-up of emotion. In the introduction this is done with strings and has a slow somber mood.

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Later when Siegfried meets Odette this theme is repeated but replaced with a concluding high note, and the orchestra features a horn accompaniment that makes the piece feels more passionate and spontaneous.

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This musical complexity is what sets it apart from other ballets of the time. Also important are the cultural boundaries it crossed. Swan Lake's characters have Germanic rather than Slavic names. These differences led to poor reviews during the initial run of the ballet in the Bolshoi Theater. Because of this poor reception the original work was modified by choreographers Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov and composer Ludwig Minkus. In 1895 this new Swan Lake was performed at a commemoration ballet for Tchaikovsky, and most productions now use the 1895 Swan Lake as their template. This flexibility also makes Swan Lake unique, because preparing it is an interpretive job. This has allowed choreographers such as Matthew Bourne to experiment: "I didn't want that three-way relationship - Prince, Swan, Rothbart - in the Swan scenes. I just wanted the simplicity of the Prince and the swans without something else controlling it. After all, it's in his mind. So it didn't seem appropriate to have anyone else involved" (Bourne qtd. in Carter).