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 impact in creating a Russian identity for ballet and music.

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. 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).

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="336"]<img class="  " alt="" src="http://balletnews.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/SwanLake024.jpg" width="336" height="240" /> 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

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