Swan Lake
Act 2 set design, Moscow 1877
Choreographed by	Julius Reisinger
Composed by	Tchaikovsky
Libretto by	Vladimir Petrovich Begitchev Vasily Geltzer
Based on	German fairy tale
Date of premiere	4 March 1877
Place of premiere	Bolshoi Theatre Moscow
Original ballet company	Bolshoi Ballet
Characters	Odette Prince Siegfried Queen Mother Von Rothbart Odile
Designs by	Karl Valts (Acts 2 & 4) Ivan Shangin (Act 1) Karl Groppius (Act 3)
Setting	Germany Fairy tale times
Created for	Pauline Karpakova and the Bolshoi Ballet, Moscow
Genre	Fairy tale
Type	Romantic ballet

Swan Lake is a romantic ballet in four acts. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky wrote the music. In 1871 he wrote a little ballet about swans for his nieces and nephews. He used some of the music from this ballet for Swan Lake. The story of the ballet is based on a German fairy tale. This tale was probably tweaked by Tchaikovsky and his friends during the ballet's early discussion stages.