Swan Lake is the first ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It was first presented as ìThe Lake of the Swansî in its premiere on February 20, 1877 in Moscow. Over the years, the ballet has been revised and played in different versions but most ballet companies prefer the 1895 version by Lev Ivanov and Marius Petipa.
This ballet tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into swan by an evil sorcerer, Von Rothbart. Odette and other ladies who had also been turned into swans must swim the lake formed by the tears of their parents. This is where Prince Siegfried found her and fell in love with her, incidentally, on his 21st birthday celebration.
The evil sorcerer manipulated the events to prevent the prince from breaking the spell but the young lovers chose death instead. When the spell was broken, the lovers and other swans, who also turned back into humans, drove the sorcerer into the lake, effectively drowning him as well as the lovers. As the surviving humans looked on, they see the spirit of the young lovers ascend to the heavens above Swan Lake.