I was listening to Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake on Classic FM as I drove into Bristol today. I adore this ballet and saw it last year at The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. Tchaikovsky wrote Swan Lake in the summer of 1875 and explained the reason to his fellow composer Rimsky-Korsakov: “ Partly because I need the money and partly because I have long cherished a desire to try my hand at this kind of music”. Most composers of the time saw it as beneath them to write this kind of music.
Swan Lake is a beautiful but tragic love story. Odette, the white swan is the untouchable woman. Odile, the black swan is the reverse and mirror image. It’s a story of love and trickery with a most moving score that will touch your soul. Just as the souls of the lovers are finally reunited, the message is that love conquers all.
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