Swan Lake music for kids: a listening guide to Tchaikovsky's ballet

Swan Lake is a ballet with music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by a sorcerer, and the prince who tries to free her. It was Tchaikovsky’s first ballet, and it was first danced in Moscow in 1877. A full performance lasts more than two hours, so most families begin with a few short pieces at home.

The best first piece for a child is “Dance of the Little Swans.” It lasts about a minute and a half.

Quick facts

• Composer: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, from Russia
• First danced: 1877, at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow
• Length: more than two hours on stage, with intermissions
• Listen for: the oboe, which plays the swan tune
• Good to know: one dancer often plays two roles, the white swan and the black swan

The story

Each ballet company tells the story in its own way, and the ending changes from one staging to the next. This is the usual outline.

Prince Siegfried is celebrating his birthday. His mother tells him he must choose a bride at a ball the next night. He goes out to hunt by a lake.

At the lake, he sees a flock of swans. As night falls, one of them turns into a young woman. She is Odette. The sorcerer Rothbart has put a spell on her and her friends. They are swans by day and human only at night. The spell will break if someone who has never loved before promises to love her for good.

Siegfried makes the promise. Rothbart has other plans.

The next night, Rothbart comes to the ball with his daughter, Odile. He has made her look just like Odette. Siegfried is fooled and promises to marry Odile. At the window, the real Odette sees it and flees.

Siegfried runs to the lake to ask for her forgiveness. In many versions, the two are parted in this world and joined in the next. In others, Siegfried defeats Rothbart, and the spell breaks.

A parent can pick the ending to tell.

Five pieces to play first

The swan tune. An oboe plays a long, sad tune over a harp and shivering strings. This is Odette’s music. It returns many times in the ballet. On recordings it is often labeled “Scene” from Act 2.

Dance of the Little Swans. Four dancers cross the stage side by side with their arms linked, moving their feet and heads in exact time. Bassoons bounce underneath while oboes play a quick, neat tune.

Waltz. From the birthday party in Act 1. The whole orchestra sways in three beats to a bar. It is the longest of these five, at about seven minutes.

Neapolitan Dance. At the ball, guests from other lands dance for the prince. This one comes from Naples, in Italy. A solo trumpet skips through a bright tune that gets faster and faster.

Finale. The swan tune comes back for the last time, faster and more troubled. Then the full orchestra takes it over, with the brass at full strength.

The version dancers perform today

The first production in 1877 was not a success. Tchaikovsky died in 1893 without seeing the ballet become famous.

In 1895, two ballet masters in St. Petersburg, Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, staged it again with new dances. Most productions today grow from that version.

Things to do together

Swan arms. Play the swan tune. Raise and lower your arms from the shoulder, slow and smooth, the way a swan moves its wings.

Four in a row. For “Dance of the Little Swans,” stand in a line of two, three, or four people. Cross your arms and hold hands with the people beside you. Try to step, hop, and turn your heads at the same moment.

Spot the oboe. The oboe has a thin, reedy sound. Raise a hand each time it plays the swan tune.

Two swans. Odette is gentle and sad. Odile is bold and showy. Ask your child to draw both, and to pick a color for each.

Count in three. In the Waltz, count “one, two, three” and sway on one. Time signatures explained covers why a waltz feels the way it does.

Print and play

Read Tchaikovsky for kids and print the Tchaikovsky fact sheet. A listening journal page gives a child space to draw the lake.

Tchaikovsky wrote two more ballets. For the one set on Christmas Eve, see the Nutcracker Suite listening guide and taking kids to The Nutcracker. More guides are listed in classical music listening guides for kids.