Tchaikovsky's ballet "Swan Lake", 4 acts, op.20, composed in 1876. This is the first dance music composed by Tchaikovsky. It is based on folklore. The plot is: Princess Odette is turned into a white swan by the devil on the shore of Swan Lake. Prince Siegfried visited Swan Lake and fell deeply in love with Odette. On the night when the prince chooses his bride, the devil lets his daughter Black Swan disguise herself as Odette to deceive the prince. The prince was almost deceived, but finally found out in time, fought the demon, and killed it. The white swan regains her true form as a princess and marries the prince, achieving a happy ending.

Based on the music of this dance, later generations later compiled a set of dance music, ***6 songs:

1. Scene, selected from the ending music of Act 1. To celebrate the prince's coming of age, a joyful banquet was held for him. A group of swans suddenly flew across the sky, which aroused the prince's desire to hunt.

2. Waltz. Music from Act 1, Section 2, a dance performed by the villagers to please the prince.

3. Swan Dance, selected from the 4th piece of a group collectively called "Swan Dance" in Act 2 - 4 Little Swans.

4. Scene, the music immediately following the "Little Swan Dance" in Act 2, Siegfried fell in love with Odette at first sight, and the two danced a pas de deux full of lyrical atmosphere.

5. Hungarian Chardash. The first piece of a group in Act 3 is collectively called "Characteristic Dances". At the party where the prince selects his bride, guests from all over the world perform dances of various national styles.

6. Scene, selected from Act 4, Scene 2 and the final carol. When Odette learned that the prince had fallen in love with the Black Swan, her face was full of tears, and she ran back to tell her female companions and bid them farewell. She felt that instead of being a slave to the devil forever, it would be better to die in the lake when the devil comes back and the storm comes. Finally, it turns to the carol theme, the prince appears, and ends with a triumphant song praising love's final victory over death and the victory over evil.

The music of "Swan Lake" is like a romantic lyrical poem. The music of each scene brilliantly completes the description of the scene, the promotion of the drama's contradictions, and the character of each character. and inner carvings, deeply symphonic. These dance drama music, full of poetic and dramatic power, and highly symphonic development principles, are the result of the author's major reform of ballet music, thus becoming an epoch-making work in the history of dance drama development. Many of the pieces of music are masterpieces that will last forever, and here we can only select a few famous ones to introduce.

At the beginning of the overture of the dance drama, the oboe played a soft melody to lead to the clues of the story. This is a variation of the swan theme. It briefly outlines the touching and tragic story of the girl who was turned into a swan by magic. picture (fragment 1). The most familiar part of the whole piece is the music at the end of the first act. This scene is a grand ball celebrating the prince's coming-of-age ceremony. The music mainly consists of a variety of gorgeous, bright and passionate dance music. At the end of the first act, a flock of swans appears in the night sky. This is the first time that the swan theme appears in the music. It is full of gentle beauty and sadness, accompanied by the vibrato of the harp and violin, played successively by the oboe and strings (Excerpt 2 ). "Hungarian Dance" is the Hungarian folk "Cardash Dance". The first half of the music is soothing and sad, like preparation before dancing (fragment 3). The second half of the music has a strong rhythm, showing the roughness of the dancers, and it is a passionate dance music (fragment 4). "Spanish Dance", the music is rich in Spanish national flavor, and the accompaniment of Spanish castanets is bright in color, which further emphasizes the national characteristics of the music. The first half of the music is passionate and lively (Fragment 5), while the second half is full of singing and melody (Fragment 6). "Neapolitan Dance" is a very famous Italian-style dance music. The whole dance music is played by trumpet. The music is lively and stable in the first half. In the second half, the rhythm becomes faster and faster, and the atmosphere becomes more and more enthusiastic. It is a dance music. A Tarantella (Fragment 7). "Dance of the Four Little Swans" is also one of the most popular dances in the dance drama. The music is lively and lively, and the rhythm is clean and neat. It depicts the scene of the little swans playing by the lake. It is simple, moving and full of pastoral poetry ( Fragment 8).