Swan Lake opens on Prince
Siegfried’s twenty-first birthday party. There is a picnic and hunting party
planned and it promises to be a fun, frivolous day. The prince and his friends
frolic with the villagers and have a grand time until the queen arrives and
tells the prince that it is time for him to get married. She brings in six
young princesses for the prince to choose from. Prince Siegfried’s spirits are significantly
lowered with this announcement and the realization that his carefree days are
over and that he now has more responsibilities. After his friends and villagers
try and for the most part fail to cheer him up, some swans are spotted flying
overhead. Siegfried decides to have one more carefree day before facing his
newly assigned responsibilities. The
first act ends with the hunters and men of the court chasing after the swans
(Ballet Theater Foundation Inc).
Act Two begins with Prince Siegfried
finding a lake in the forest and seeing a lovely swan land on it. He prepares
to shoot the swan, but she turns into the most beautiful women he has ever
seen. He approaches her and eventually convinces her to trust him with her
story. She tells him that her name is Odette and that an evil wizard named
Rothbart has cursed her to be a swan during daylight and she can only be in her
true form at night. The only way to break the spell is for a young man commit
to be faithful to her and marry her. If the said young man ever breaks his
promise, she will stay a swan forever. As she finishes explaining her problem
to Prince Siegfried, Rothbart appears and Siegfried attempts to kill him, but
Odette prevents him and tells him that if Rothbart is killed before she is
released, she will die as well; Rothbart leaves and Odette turns back into a
swan as dawn approaches (Ballet Theater Foundation Inc).
The third act takes place the next
night. A large party is being thrown for the prince’s birthday. The Queen has
invited eligible princesses and expects him to choose a bride from among them.
The prince dances with them all, but is unable to forget the memory of Odette,
and refuses to marry any of them. Rothbart and his daughter, Odile, arrive disguised
as a nobleman (or the Knight of the Black Swan) and Odette (with the help of
Rothbart’s magic). Prince Siegfried is ecstatic to see (who he thinks is)
Odette again and Odile keeps him distracted from the real Odette, who is
outside, stuck as a swan trying to get his attention and prevent him from being
ensnared by Rothbart and Odile. Odile and Prince Siegfried perform a
magnificent pas de deux and the Prince tells his mother that this is the woman
he would like to marry. Rothbart and Odile reveal themselves and the prince, understanding
that he has unwittingly broken his promise to Odette, runs outside to find her
(Samachson 104-108).
There are several different versions
of act four. Odette returns to the lake
and tells her swan maiden friends all that happened. Siegfried arrives shortly
after and begs her to forgive him for what he’s done, and she forgives him, but
tells him that she still must kill herself to prevent being stuck as a swan
forever. Siegfried tells her that he loves her and pledges to die with her.
Rothbart appears and fights with the prince. In the original ending, Siegfried
defeats Rothbart and Odette and Siegfried jump into the lake. The apotheosis
shows them reunited in the afterlife, able to be together for eternity. This is
the main version performed, with some minor changes made (sometimes Rothbart
kills the prince), but this is the usual outcome. In the main other version
(created in the Soviet Union) Siegfried defeats Rothbart without dying. This
breaks the spell on Odette and they live happily ever after (Samachson
108-109).
11. Dorothy
and Joseph Samachson. The Russian Ballet and
Three of Its Masterpieces. New York: Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Company,
1971.
12.
“Swan
Lake.” Ballet Theatre Foundation, Inc. Accessed February 12, 2014, http://www.abt.org/education/archive/ballets/swan_lake.html.
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