Lot Essay
SWAN LAKE
Ballet in four acts based on motives found in J. K. A. Musäus' Der geraubte Schleier (The stolen Veil)
ORIGINAL PRODUCTION
Composer: Pete Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Choreographer: Marius Petipa (Acts I and III), and Lev Ivanov
(Acts II and IV)
Designer: Mikhail Bocharov and Heinrich Lavot (sets and
costumes)
Company: The Russian Imperial Ballet
Première: January 15 (27) 1895, Maryinsky Theatre, St.
Petersburg
NEW PRODUCTION
Choreographer: Robert Helpmann, with additional choreography by
Frederick Ashton
Designer: Carl Toms (sets and costumes)
Company: The Royal Ballet
Première: December 12, 1963, Royal Opera House, Covent
Garden, London
Nureyev's debut: 1964, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London
NEW PRODUCTION
Choreography: Petipa Ivanov, with additional choreography by
Rudolf Nureyev
Designer: Nicholas Georgiadis
Company: The Vienna State Opera Ballet
Première: October 15, 1964, Staatsopev, Vienna, with Nureyev
as Prince Siegfried and Fonteyn as Odette Odile
Like the earlier work of The Sleeping Beauty, first produced in 1890, Swan Lake remains at the forefront of classical ballet sharing as it does a common composer and choreographer, in Tchaikovsky and Petipa, in its original production. Again, as in his first production of The Sleeping Beauty, Nureyev commissioned Nicholas Georgiadis to execute the stage and costume designs of his own production that was premiered in 1964.
Ballet in four acts based on motives found in J. K. A. Musäus' Der geraubte Schleier (The stolen Veil)
ORIGINAL PRODUCTION
Composer: Pete Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Choreographer: Marius Petipa (Acts I and III), and Lev Ivanov
(Acts II and IV)
Designer: Mikhail Bocharov and Heinrich Lavot (sets and
costumes)
Company: The Russian Imperial Ballet
Première: January 15 (27) 1895, Maryinsky Theatre, St.
Petersburg
NEW PRODUCTION
Choreographer: Robert Helpmann, with additional choreography by
Frederick Ashton
Designer: Carl Toms (sets and costumes)
Company: The Royal Ballet
Première: December 12, 1963, Royal Opera House, Covent
Garden, London
Nureyev's debut: 1964, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London
NEW PRODUCTION
Choreography: Petipa Ivanov, with additional choreography by
Rudolf Nureyev
Designer: Nicholas Georgiadis
Company: The Vienna State Opera Ballet
Première: October 15, 1964, Staatsopev, Vienna, with Nureyev
as Prince Siegfried and Fonteyn as Odette Odile
Like the earlier work of The Sleeping Beauty, first produced in 1890, Swan Lake remains at the forefront of classical ballet sharing as it does a common composer and choreographer, in Tchaikovsky and Petipa, in its original production. Again, as in his first production of The Sleeping Beauty, Nureyev commissioned Nicholas Georgiadis to execute the stage and costume designs of his own production that was premiered in 1964.