Schwanensee - Schedule, Program & Tickets

Schwanensee

musical direction
Robert Reimer
composer
Piotr I. Tchaikovsky
Choreography and staging
Rudolf Nurejew after Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov
Stage and costumes
Luisa Spinatelli
light
Marion Hewlett

It is the most famous ballet of all time: the sad story of Prince Siegfried, who falls in love with the swan princess Odette deep in the forest in the middle of the night, swears her eternal loyalty, but is deceived by the evil powers of the magician Rotbart and Odette's opponent Odile.

The St. Petersburg choreography with which Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov first did justice to Piotr I. Tchaikovsky's groundbreaking score in 1895 is the epitome of the romantic dance fairy tale - a version three years after the exceptional dancer Rudolf Nureyev, who came from the Soviet Union served his legendary jump to the West in 1964 as the base of his Viennese "Swan Lake". 89 curtains at the premiere brought the production into the Guinness Book of Records. With over 240 performances and two film adaptations - in 1966 with Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nurejew and in 2014 with Olga Esina and Vladimir Shishov - it reached an audience of millions.

I. ACT
Prince Siegfried celebrates his birthday with numerous guests. Tomorrow he is to choose a bride from among the beauties of the country. As a sign of maturity, he receives a crossbow from his mother. Left alone, Siegfried feels strangely drawn to a flock of swans passing by. Dark premonitions come over him. Even though it is getting late, he goes hunting.

II. ACT
The magician Redbeard rules a flock of white swans. These are enchanted girls. They are only allowed to assume their human form at night. One of them is the swan princess Odette. Siegfried followed her and her friends deeper and deeper into the forest. The two fall in love in the magic of the companions' floating dances. Odette reveals that only a man who vows her eternal loyalty can deliver her from Redbeard's spell. Siegfried swears to be that man. The day is breaking, the girls go back to the lake, where they turn into swans again. Rotbart prevents Siegfried from following them.

III. ACT
The election of the bride at the queen's court is in full swing. But none of the six princesses presented to Siegfried can move his heart. A beautiful stranger dressed in black comes in, accompanied by a proud nobleman. Siegfried is confused; he thinks he recognizes his beloved Odette in this mysterious creature that resembles a black swan.

After the guests have presented themselves with dances from their homeland Spain, Italy, Poland and Hungary, Siegfried asks the stranger to dance and announces that he will choose her as his bride. The magician Red Beard shows himself triumphantly under his mask. The one chosen by Siegfried is Odile, Rotbart's daughter. Siegfried has to realize that he was deceived. In search of Odette, he rushes into the forest.

IV. ACT
The white swans dance their elegiac rounds. They try in vain to comfort Odette. Siegfried appears breathless. Although Odette knows that all hope of salvation is lost, she forgives him. But Rotbart brings his revenge to an end: He lets the lake overflow its banks, Siegfried dies in the waves.

Subject to changes.

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