Swan Lake Studies 131-142

131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142. The musical transition that forms the bridge between the swan-maidens’ waltz and the partnered adagio for Odette is among the most atmospherically charged passages in Tchaikovsky’s whole score.

Scored for woodwind and harp, it’s virtually devoid of rhythm. It creates its spell by building up to one quietly suspenseful chord after another. (Perhaps the only feature of the melodramatic movie “Black Swan” that showed any intimate understanding of this ballet’s world was its use of this passage for building psychological tension.) Tchaikovsky seems to be painting a landscape by moonlight, while making it beautifully full of quietly dramatic possibility; then, as the harp delivers its cadenza, he brings the return of the heroine Odette to the stage.

How this passage, often lasting more than a minute, is presented is crucial. Usually those opening chords are about the stillness of the swan-maidens, in their four rows, and the search amid them by Prince Siegfried for the absent Queen Odette. One of the most beautiful moments I can remember in all ballet is how David Wall, the greatest Prince Siegfried of my experience, walked between the columns of swan-maidens in a pair of May 1977 performances (with Natalia Makarova), marvelling at them as if they were frozen sculpture, but still looking for the one who gave meaning to the many. (Makarova, on entry, cast magic, first, by the beautifully arched swan arabesque she prepared on his arm. Then, balanced on point with both arms raised, gently turned ninety degrees, as if rotated by the wind.)

But in my first forty years of watching “Swan Lake” onstage, I never saw Benno here, whereas it was Lev Ivanov’s intention that he, Siegfried’s trusted companion, not only joined Siegfried in the quest here for Odette, but that his arm was also the one on which she first took that arabesque. She is not yet courageous enough to join Siegfried himself. Odette’s deep apprehension about trusting Siegfried is already evident here.

These twelve photographs are partly taken from Alexei Ratmansky’s 2016 Zürich recreation of the Petipa-Ivanov 1895 Mariinsky production, partly from the Royal Ballet’s 1959/1960 film of the first lakeside scene. Both feature Benno: whom I had never seen onstage until this production. The photographs show significant differences in some details, but concur in others.

In 131, Siegfried (Alexander Jones) is the first onstage, summoning Benno to join him.132, 133: Siegfried (Michael Somes; Jones) asks Benno (Bryan Ashbridge; Wai Chen) for the queen (the mime gesture showing two sides of a crown) - where is she? In 134 and 135 the two men actually walk between the columns on either side, as I remember Wall walking in 1977. But she’s not to be found: 136 shows Siegfried’s dejection.

This is when the harp strikes its cadenza. Odette enters from upstage left, crosses behind Siegfried to upstage right, and joins Benno. In 137, she takes the arabesque on his arm; in 138, she raises her arms and holds a balance that swan-like shape. (In Ratmansky’s staging, she holds not an arabesque but an attitude, looking across to Siegfried.) Then (139) Fonteyn runs a ring around Siegfried, whereas (140) Kapitonova now holds an an attitude on his arm, looking into his face. (Ratmansky’s staging may well be the closer to the 1895 original, but in these moments I am not yet so moved by its psychology - its psychopathology, one may even say - but then I’m shaped by the tradition that shows the ensuing adagio as being about Odette’s profound diffidence about Siegfried and about both meeting his gaze and trusting his support.)

141 and 142, two of Fonteyn’s masterstrokes, occur in immediate succession. In 141, she poignantly stretches upward, elongating her shape within ballet’s fifth position; in 142, a second later, she arrives, folded on the floor, at Siegfried’s feet.

In summer 2019, Ratmansky wrote on Facebook that, although in 2016 he had allowed Odette to fold this way to the floor, he now felt that this was wrong: that photographs of every early Odette show her on the floor but not fully folded over in the dying-swan position. I remember writing then that this was such a shock to the system that I was going to have to lie down in a darkened room. (Ratmansky replied, all on Facebook, “It’s only ballet, Alastair”, echoing Alfred Hitchcock’s famous line to Ingrid Bergman: “It’s only a movie, Ingrid.”) For Ratmansky, the more folded-over swan imitations here and during the adagio are probably the stylistic re-shapings of “Swan Lake” style that began in the early twentieth century with Alexander Gorsky and Mikhail Fokine. He may be right; I hope that I have the chance to get used to his reconception of Ivanov’s style in live performance one day.

Two other features of Ivanov’s original are worth noting. As Odette completes the cadenza, the huntsmen softly enter from the wings and take places between the swan-maiden columns, each man supporting one woman on either shoulder. And (see photographs 51 and 52 in this series) the swan-children suddenly arrive in a semicircular arc behind Benno, Odette, and Siegfried. Ratmansky and others assure me they’re there in the notation: I think the difference between the way the other swan-maidens are now supported by chivalrous huntsmen and the presence of the younger, more vulnerable, partnerless swan-children suggests the two sides of Odette’s mind at this stage in the drama. She wants the reassurance of this prince’s support; she also wants the safety of the man-free swan community she has known.

Monday 24 August

Siegfried (Alexander Jones) summons Benno. Zürich Ballet production of “Swan Lake” by Alexei Ratmansky, 2016.

Siegfried (Michael Somes) mimes “queen” (crown) to Benno (Bryan Ashbridge) amid a kind speech asking if Benno has seen Queen Odette. Royal Ballet film of the first lakeside scene c.1959.

Siegfried (Alexander Jones) continues with the mime speech to Benno, ending “here”. Zürich Ballet production of “Swan Lake” by Alexei Ratmansky, 2016.

Benno (left) and Siegfried (right) pass through the columns of swan-maidens, Zürich Ballet production by Alexei Ratmansky, 2016.

Benno and Siegfried continue to comb the swan-maiden columns. Zürich Ballet production of “Swan Lake” by Alexei Ratmansky, 2016.

Prince Siegfried (Michael Somes) shows dejection.

Odette (Margot Fonteyn) suddenly enters, upstage left, running across to materialise in arabesque on Benno’s supporting arm; Benno (Bryan Ashbridge), though amazed, is chivalrous .

Odette (Margot Fonteyn), never looking at Benno (Bryan Ashbridge), lets go of his arm, swiftly holding a “swan” arabesque. Royal Ballet film c.1959.

Now, Odette (Margot Fonteyn) runs a quick ring around Siegfried (Michael Somes) without looking at him. Royal Ballet film, c.1959.

But in Alexei Ratmansky’s 2016 Zürich Ballet production, based on the 1895 Stepanov notation, Odette arrives next on Siegfried’s arm, looking into his face from the side.

In one of Margot Fonteyn’s masterstrokes, Odette pulls herself up in an upstretched fifth position in front of Siegfried (Michael Somes) and Benno (Bryan Ashbridge). Royal Ballet film, c.1959.

But the true Fonteyn masterstroke is the rapidity with which Odette descends to the floor, folding at Siegfried’s feet. She was stretched right up; a second later, she is folded low, deeply vulnerable and private. Royal Ballet film c.1959.