Swan Lake (1895)

Swan Lake (1895)

The 1895 Petipa/Ivanov/Drigo revival of Swan Lake is a famous version of the ballet Swan Lake. Swan Lake (ru. Лебединое Озеро) is a ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky presented in either four acts, four scenes (primarily outside Russia and Eastern Europe), or three acts, four scenes (primarily in Russia and Eastern Europe; more rarely in two acts, four scenes), and is based on an ancient German legend. Originally choreographed by Julius Reisinger to the music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (opus 20), it was first presented as The Lake of the Swans by the Ballet of the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre on 20 February/4 March 1877 (Julian/Gregorian calendar dates) in Moscow, Russia. Although the ballet is presented in many different versions, most ballet companies today base their stagings both choreographically and musically on this revival by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, staged for the Imperial Ballet, first presented on 15 January/27 January 1895, at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia instead of the original version.