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Swan confusion


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Hey, what's up with all these swans? I saw an excerpt of a peice called "the dying swan" and I thought, oh, that is part of "swan lake"... but no, it is not Tchaikovsky but Camille Saint Saens! What is going on? Is there some relationship between these two or were the swans just a common vehicle for the old time composers.

And another thing is the hunting scene in swan lake!!! Never heard of hunting swans before. Was it like roast duck back in those days? Hope it doesn't catch on again... swan preservation you know, better to keep them safe!

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I think the popularity of swans in ballet has to do with the fact that they're beautiful, graceful creatures, so it seems natural for dancers, who are also beautiful and graceful, to animate them.

In Tchaikovsky's ballet, though, there's also the other side of swandom: its hardness and cruelty (swans can be vicious creatures when they get riled).

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Swans were also common in Slavic, Germanic and Russian folk tales. I was given in 1950 a little glass swan wearing a crown - it is Czech, and I've never known whether it was anything to do with Swan Lake or just a reference to swans being fairy tale, and often royal, birds. I've still got it! To me it has always been Odette.

In England, swans belong to the Queen to this day. The Royal Family don't eat them any more, (though they certainly did once) or hunt them as far as I know, but the Royal connection is still there.

[ March 21, 2002, 10:44 AM: Message edited by: Helena ]

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I think there was a relationship between "Swan Lake" and "Dying Swan." Fokine would, of course, have seen "Swan Lake," and seen Pavlova in "Swan Lake." Pavlova also had a special affinity for swans -- she kept them as pets.

Ronny, you're not the only one who confuses these two ballets. One of my friends wrote a review in a Major Metropolitan Daily which shall remain nameless about a gala, and one of the pieces on the program was "Dying Swan." A helpful copy editor added: "(a solo from "Swan Lake.")" He was very upset.

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I believe that Fokine choreographed this piece (The Dying Swan) for Pavlova at her request. She needed a short solo for a performance and asked him to do it. I could be wrong, but I think he choreographed it on her right in the studio in about 20 minutes.

[ March 22, 2002, 01:01 AM: Message edited by: dmdance ]

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And a tangential note here for the musical-history minded. "The Swan" was the only part of the "Carnival of the Animals" which Saint-Saens permitted to be published during his lifetime. Some of the other parts were viewed as being too satirical and potentially insulting to some in his audience. Like "Personages with Long Ears" - dedicated to the Parisian music critics. Or "Wild Asses" dedicated to cab drivers. Or "Fossils" featuring a bit of "una voce poco fa" from The Barber of Seville, which was popular for mezzos "of a certain age" to sing in concerts. "Swan" came out in 1905. The rest of the suite had to wait until 1922.

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I think the quintessential "swan confusion" is evidenced by Les Ballet Trockaderos version of Swan Lake and The Dying Swan - ronny, if you've never seen this company, you must! :P

They were on BRAVO the other night and, although I have seen them before, I loved every minute!

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A few more swan connections:

Wagner's opera 'Lohengrin' (1850) includes a boat drawn by a swan. (The setting is early 10th century, and concerns events surrounding King Henry I of Germany and Count Frederick of Telramund). The boat carries Lohengrin, a Knight of the Holy Grail and son of Parsifal. It later turns out that the swan is really Gottfried of Brabant, enchanted into the shape of a swan. Gottfried eventually regains his original form and is declared rightful heir of the land by Lohengrin.

Swans obviously have a sense of mystery because of the tradition that they only sing just before they die. Orlando Gibbons wrote a famous madrigal concerning that tradition (The Silver Swan); Grieg wrote a song on the same line of thought (The Swan).

The famous composition by Sibelius, 'The Swan of Tuonela', was originally intended as a prelude to an opera based on the Kalevala. In Finnish tradition, the god Jumala reigned on earth as King over the Kalevala, Land of Heroes, at the beginning of the world. He created a Swan, which carried the dead heroes to new life; its home was the River of Tuonela. David Bintley made a ballet 'The Swan of Tuonela' in 1982, using the music of Sibelius, including 6 major symphonic poems connected with the Kalevala, part of the Karelia Suite, etc.

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Richard, I remember seeing The Swan of Tuonela. I liked the idea, but didn't think the ballet entirely successful.

Concerning Lohengrin, have you heard the story (possibly apocryphal but quite possibly true) about a production where the tenor singing Lohengrin didn't manage to get into the boat in time? With great presence of mind he sang, in German, "When does the next one go?"

Also, there is a rhyme about the legends of swans singing before they die:

Swans sing before they die: 'twere no bad thing

Should certain people die before they sing.

I think I've spent too much time listening to musicians' jokes!

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Helena, thanks for your reply. Yes, I have heard the Lohengrin story (good one), as well as the rhyme about certain people dying before they sing - but I can't remember where that one comes from.

Regarding The Swan of Tuonela, I have the programme notes for it from a visit to Bristol by the SWRB (as the touring company then was) in 1984. There were 2 nights (and a matinée) of Coppélia, 2 nights of The Swan, and 2 nights (+ matinée) of a mixed bill! I remember seeing the triple, because it included Petrushka (Alain Dubreuil in the title role), as well as Raymonda Act 3 and Bintley's 'Choros' (prem.1983) to an original ballet score by Aubrey Meyer. I haven't heard of it being done since - it takes its inspiration from ancient Greece. I can remember clearly that the set reminded me of the wall-bars in a school gym! (Likewise, I haven't heard anything of DB's 'Swan of Tuonela' since the 80's).

The company list makes interesting reading now: the 'artists' include Leanne Benjamin and Russell Maliphant.

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Thank you so much Richard and Helena for giving us some background on the lovely and ubiquitous swan!

I love hearing about the orgins of these sorts of icons!Wonderful - keep 'em coming! And, if you have any other bits to share with us, please don't hesitate to start a new topic. In my opinion, the more information one can have about the meanings behind things, the more meaningful they become....reminds me, once again, of my many art history classes!

Thank you again.:)

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The Lohengrin story is atrributable to the great Wagnerian tenor, Leo Slezak, whose swan wheeled away without him. Without being fazed, he came downstage and said, over the footlights, to his good friend, conductor Walter Damrosch, "Walter, what time does the next swan leave?" So now you also know how character actor Walter Slezak, Leo's son, got his name.

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BW - thanks for your post. When I was typing my previous post I thought then of adding something on the original swan-icon, but didn't have time. So, just a reminder of Zeus, who had a habit of appearing in different shapes and forms to consort with a whole string of mortal women, and thereby beget many of the main characters that appear in Greek mythology. When he came to Leda, it was as a swan (poor Europa, by contrast, was carried off by Zeus in the form of a bull). Leda's children included the beautiful Helen.

One of the benefits of these topics is that it makes you look up facts that might have been overlooked or forgotten. Referring to Balanchine's 'Festival of Ballet' (the UK version of his 'Complete Stories..'), Fokine apparently said that he composed it in a very short time. He had been playing Saint-Saens' "Le Cygne" on his mandolin when Pavlova came to ask him for a short solo for a concert being given by artists from the chorus of the Imperial Opera. He immediately thought that the swan would be an ideal role, as he looked at "the thin, brittle-like Pavlova". "It was almost an improvisation. I danced in front of her,she directly behind me. The she danced and I walked alongside her, curving her arms and correcting details of poses". Fokine's words are quoted from 'Dance Magazine' of August 1931. He also comments that The Dying Swan was his answer to his critics who accused him of 'barefooted tendencies' and rejecting pointe-work. Apparently he wanted to produce a ballet (Eunice, based on Quo Vadis, in 1907 - the same year as The D.S.) in which the dancers would work in bare feet (he was influenced in this by Isadora Duncan who had just visited St Petersburg), but this was not allowed by the Maryinsky authorities, so the dancers wore tights and had their toes, heels, and knees painted on what they were wearing! (from Oleg Kerensky).

Fokine also asserts that The Dying Swan became the symbol of the New Russian Ballet....a combination of masterful technique and expressiveness..... the dance..should satisfy not only the eye.. but penetrate the soul". In 1934 he told Arnold Haskell that he regarded it as illustrating the transition between the old and the new...."a dance of the whole body, and not of the limbs only".

Haskell himself wrote in 1938 that The Dying Swan was the manifesto of Fokine's new romanticism. "At the start Pavlova's path, Fokine's path, and Diaghilev's path were identical". Later, of course, they diverged. When Haskell first met Pavlova she asked "Are you on my side or Diaghilev's?". He said it was years before he understood the significance of the remark (after both were dead), and cites André Levinson as a critic able to understand the balance between Pavlova and Diaghilev. "There were sides and there should not have been" wrote Haskell.

He also lists other interpretations of nature danced by Pavlova: The Dragonfly, The Californian Poppy, Autumn Leaves. I hadn't heard of these, but this is interesting, because early work in modern dance at the beginning of the 20th century was also sometimes inspired by nature.

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There used to be a cartoon series called "Augusta". Augusta was a young girl who had an interesting view of life. In one cartoon Augusta has gone to a costume party where the children are performing to entertain each other. Augusta has arrived in a swan costume. The blurb read: "As her final trick [sic] Augusta performs the Dying Swan from Swan Lake". This strip was posted on the bulletin boards of a number of dance studios around London.

Yes, swans were a major banquet item in the middle ages. It was considered a royal treat. As has been previously mentioned in this discussion, all the swans on the Thames belong to Her Majesty. There is a yearly event in which swan keepers go out on the river and nick the beaks of the swans to lay claim to them for Her Majesty. This is called "swan upping". Perhaps someone will know the origin of the term. Swans are really nasty creatures - I've had the dubious pleasure of being chased by one - and boy can they run! On another occasion I saved a dog from having his tail bitten off (it was dangling down into the water in St. James's Park right in the face of a male swan who thought he had to protect the cygnets who were being fed by the dog's owner. My only recourse was to kick the pooch (not hard, but hard enough to make him move) - I was in one of those recliner chairs and my hand wouldn't have reached the dog in time. The owner, of course, thought I was abusing his pet. I had hard work to convince him that I had just saved him a large vet bill.

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Good for you, Felursus! A dog lover at heart? :) I've been chased by a swan while rowing in a pond and had to brandish one of my oars to scare the large, angry fellow off! However, I still think they're beautiful and they do mate for life. :)

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Actually, I'm a cat lover in reality: I have 3 - Merlin (a Morris look-alike), his sister from the same litter, Morgana, (a female Baxter-type), and a ragdoll called Douglas Furbanks (aka "Baby" - as in "Bringing Up ..." but twice the size of the other two at only 1 year of age).

:)

Actually, I realized that that poor dog was really in jeopardy. A friend of mine had sat in one of those chairs while eating a sandwich. All of a sudden a snaked head appeared and grabbed the sandwich from her hand. A swan, of course. One doesn't even attempt to resist them. I've heard that their bites are worse than tiger bites (per a TV vet in England - and I guess he should know!). The time I was chased by a swan I had been feeding rolls to him and his lady but I wanted to save some to feed trout (it was by the River Test in Hampshire - a famous trout stream). I would have won the Olympic dash in my escape attempt! ;)

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I just thought I'd add that "Mad" King Ludwig of Bavaria had a very special affinity with swans, which explains a bit about Lohengrin -- Ludwig was Wagner's major benefactor. If you see Ludwig's various castles (or at least photos of them), there are swan motifs here and there. I believe Neuschwanstein has some depictions of the scene in Lohengrin which was described earlier, and also some figurines. For Ludwig, at least, the Swan and Lily were symbols of purity, serenity, and aesthetic beauty. It is a shame that he did not have that peace in his actual life.

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With Ludwig, he had a grotto (Tannhaüser) burrowed out under one of his older castles, and a swan-and-shell boat (Lohengrin) made so a gondolier specially hired for the purpose could paddle him back and forth. A concealed consort of musicians played selections from Lohengrin and all the latest Wagner hits.

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This is getting better all the time! Should I read the book, the libretto, or see the movie? ;) Seriously, where does one glean all this information? I admit I'm totally ignorant of Lohengrin, however I am enjoying everyone's posts very much!

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