Swan Lake was first presented as a ballet in 1877. The libretto was written by Vladmir Petrovich Begichev and Vasily Fedorvich Geltser. They invited Pyoter Illich Tchaikovsky to write the music for the ballet and it is likely that he had a strong influence on the story's development. In 1871 Tchaikovsky had composed a little ballet called ‘The Lake of the Swans’ to entertain his sister’s children. It is believed that this is when the famous ‘Song of the Swans’ was written.
At the time the ballet was created, fairy tales were very popular. Supernatural female creatures were particularly popular in fairy tales. The swan-maiden was the most popular supernatural female creature as swans were favoured for their grace and beauty.
As very few records concerning the first production of Swan Lake have survived, the exact origins of the ballet are uncertain and much of what is known is taken from personal recollections and memoirs. There are many stories that are believed to have influenced the production. Many of these feature the transformation of swans in some way. Some are quite similar to the story of Swan Lake. 'The Tales of the Thousand and One Nights' features beautiful women who are transformed into bird maidens. Similarly in 'Sweet Mikhail Ivanovich the Rover', Mikhail is about to shoot a swan when it calls to him "Shoot not, else ill-fortune will doom thee forevermore". The swan flies down and is transformed into a beautiful maiden. It is also believed that Celtic tale ‘The Legend of the Children of Lir’ as well as Hans Christian Anderson's 'The Wild Swans' and The Grim Brothers 'The Six Swans' may have had some influence on Swan Lake. All are very similar, telling the story of a king who marries an evil witch that turns his sons into swans. Tchaikovsky may have taken inspiration for his music of Swan Lake from Wagner’s opera ‘Lohengrin’ as well as from composer Delibes, both of which he admired.
Swan Lake was not a success at first and was dismissed as a failure. While many criticised Tchaikovsky on the difficulty and complexity of his music, the failure was put down to the poor staging of the ballet. Prima ballerina Anna Sobeshchhanskaya, unhappy with the choreography of Julius Reisinger, went to Marius Petipa. Petipa, with the help of Lev Ivanov, took over the choreography of Swan Lake.
After Tchaikovsky’s death in 1893, the ballet’s was changed by Modest Tchaikovsky. Rather than having the waves rise and engulf Siegried and Odette, Odette commits suicide by throwing herself into the lake. Siegfried, unable to live without Odette, decideds he to will die. The lover’s spirits are then reunited in apothesis. This version of Swan Lake was performed in 1895 and was more successful than the original ballet. Many changes have been made to the ballet since and many different versions of Swan Lake exist today. However, nearly every version is based on the 1985 performance of Swan Lake. The popularity of the ballet has also grown. Lisbeth Zwerger believes that ‘Swan Lake is the best loved ballet of all time’ (2002, p27).