|
|
Act I: In the castle, Prince Siegfried's birthday is being celebrated in festive splendour. The Queen presents her son with a crossbow; she asks him to choose a bride from amoung the guests the following day. When the guests have gone, a swarm of white swans pass by. Bewitched by the beauty of these proud birds, the Prince decides to go hunting.
Act II: The forest lake with its shores is the kingdom of the magician Rotbart, who rules over Princess Odette and her followers in the form of a bird of prey. Odette and her mauds have been turned by Rotbart into Swans but at night they are allowed to assume their human form. The Princess can be freed only by a man who loves none but her. Siegfried, ordenly in love with the Swan Princess, swears he will be the man to break the spell.
Act III: At the court of the Queen, none of the girls is able to capitivate the Prince, until a nobleman appears with his daughter. The Prince believes that he recognizes in Odile(as the strange youn woman is called) his beloved from Swan Lake. In reality, the magician Rotbart and the enchantress Odile are cancealed behind the outward form of the nobleman and the black swan. The dance with the black swan seals the fate of the Prince and his beloved Odette: Bewitched by Odile's magic, he announces to the guests that he has chosen the beautiful stranger to be his bride. Thus he breaks the oath he made to Odette, and Rotbart and Odile have prevented the release of the Swan Queen.
|
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
