We enjoyed another ballet at the National Opera of the Ukraine. Just the Tchaikovsky music was enough to have kept us happy. This was orchestra pit full of wonderful musicians just before the conductor came out. I looked at the 4 bass viols and remembered our daughter Nancy's comment that all of the good music for the string bass was by composers whose names ended in -sky or -ov! Those East European romantic composers liked a full orchestra to create their big luscious sounds! Our other children and grandchildren who play instruments besides piano will note 2 bassoons, many violins, violas and cellos, (some hidden), 2 french horns, many drums, clarinets, flutes, oboe and harp. There were many beautiful solos parts played.
The audience is requested not to take photos, and I didn't, until the last act. Turning off the flash, and waiting for times when the dancers were almost still, I was able to catch several beautiful poses. This is during the ball when Prince Siegfried becomes acquainted and enchanted by Odile, who so resembles his swan princess Odette that he believes it is she to whom he has sworn love. To the right you see his mother, the sovereign princess sitting with courtiers, and the evil sorcerer Rothbard in black.
(The Odette/Odile role is danced by the same person.)
After he realizes the deception and returns to the swan lake, he finds the enchanted swan girls who are heart-broken because now they cannot be released from Rothbard's spell.
In this version Siegfried fights and eventually defeats Rothbard. Thus the spell is broken and the swans return as humans again---a happy end!
