document_title: Working time

question_text: what is a typical work day in germany

question_tokens: what is a typical work day in germany

text: Working time

text: Hunter-gatherer[edit]

text: Since the 1960s, the consensus among anthropologists, historians, and sociologists has been that early hunter-gatherer societies enjoyed more leisure time than is permitted by capitalist and agrarian societies;[6][7] for instance, one camp of !Kung Bushmen was estimated to work two-and-a-half days per week, at around 6 hours a day.[8] Aggregated comparisons show that on average the working day was less than five hours.[6]

text: Subsequent studies in the 1970s examined the Machiguenga of the Upper Amazon and the Kayapo of northern Brazil. These studies expanded the definition of work beyond purely hunting-gathering activities, but the overall average across the hunter-gatherer societies he studied was still below 4.86 hours, while the maximum was below 8 hours.[6] Popular perception is still aligned with the old academic consensus that hunter-gatherers worked far in excess of modern humans' forty-hour week.[7]

text: History[edit]

text: The industrial revolution made it possible for a larger segment of the population to work year-round, because this labor was not tied to the season and artificial lighting made it possible to work longer each day. Peasants and farm laborers moved from rural areas to work in urban factories, and working time during the year increased significantly.[9] Before collective bargaining and worker protection laws, there was a financial incentive for a company to maximize the return on expensive machinery by having long hours. Records indicate that work schedules as long as twelve to sixteen hours per day, six to seven days per week were practiced in some industrial sites.[citation needed]

text: Over the 20th century, work hours shortened by almost half, mostly due to rising wages brought about by renewed economic growth, with a supporting role from trade unions, collective bargaining, and progressive legislation. The workweek, in most of the industrialized world, dropped steadily, to about 40 hours after World War II. The limitation of working hours is also proclaimed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,[10] International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,[11] and European Social Charter.[12] The decline continued at a faster pace in Europe: for example, France adopted a 35-hour workweek in 2000. In 1995, China adopted a 40-hour week, eliminating half-day work on Saturdays (though this is not widely practiced). Working hours in industrializing economies like South Korea, though still much higher than the leading industrial countries, are also declining steadily.

text: Technology has also continued to improve worker productivity, permitting standards of living to rise as hours decline.[13] In developed economies, as the time needed to manufacture goods has declined, more working hours have become available to provide services, resulting in a shift of much of the workforce between sectors.

text: Economic growth in monetary terms tends to be concentrated in health care, education, government, criminal justice, corrections, and other activities that are regarded as necessary for society rather than those that contribute directly to the production of material goods.[citation needed]

text: In the mid-2000s, the Netherlands was the first country in the industrialized world where the overall average working week dropped to less than 30 hours.[14]

text: Gradual decrease in working hours[edit]

text: Most countries in the developed world have seen average hours worked decrease significantly.[15][16] For example, in the U.S in the late 19th century it was estimated that the average work week was over 60 hours per week.[17] Today the average hours worked in the U.S is around 33,[18] with the average man employed full-time for 8.4 hours per work day, and the average woman employed full-time for 7.7 hours per work day.[19] The front runners for lowest average weekly work hours are the Netherlands with 27 hours,[20] and France with 30 hours.[21] At current rates the Netherlands is set to become the first country to reach an average work week under 21 hours.[22] In a 2011 report of 26 OECD countries, Germany had the lowest average working hours per week at 25.6 hours.[23]

text: The New Economics Foundation has recommended moving to a 21-hour standard work week to address problems with unemployment, high carbon emissions, low well-being, entrenched inequalities, overworking, family care, and the general lack of free time.[24][25][26] Actual work week lengths have been falling in the developed world.[27]

text: Factors that have contributed to lowering average work hours and increasing standard of living have been:

text:
Technological advances in efficiency such as mechanization, robotics and information technology.
The increase of women equally participating in making income as opposed to previously being commonly bound to homemaking and childrearing exclusively.
Dropping fertility rates leading to fewer hours needed to be worked to support children.

text: Recent articles[28][29] supporting a four-day week have argued that reduced work hours would increase consumption and invigorate the economy. However, other articles state that consumption would decrease.[30][31] Other arguments for the four-day week include improvements to workers' level of education (due to having extra time to take classes and courses) and improvements to workers' health (less work-related stress and extra time for exercise). Reduced hours also save money on day care costs and transportation, which in turn helps the environment with less carbon-related emissions. These benefits increase workforce productivity on a per-hour basis.

text: Workweek structure[edit]

text: The structure of the work week varies considerably for different professions and cultures. Among salaried workers in the western world, the work week often consists of Monday to Friday or Saturday with the weekend set aside as a time of personal work and leisure. Sunday is set aside in the western world because it is the Christian sabbath.

text: The traditional American business hours are 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday to Friday, representing a workweek of five eight-hour days comprising 40 hours in total. These are the origin of the phrase 9-to-5, used to describe a conventional and possibly tedious job.[32] Negatively used, it connotes a tedious or unremarkable occupation. The phrase also indicates that a person is an employee, usually in a large company, rather than self-employed. More neutrally, it connotes a job with stable hours and low career risk, but still a position of subordinate employment. The actual time at work often varies between 35 and 48 hours in practice due to the inclusion, or lack of inclusion, of breaks. In many traditional white collar positions, employees were required to be in the office during these hours to take orders from the bosses, hence the relationship between this phrase and subordination. Workplace hours have become more flexible, but even still the phrase is commonly used.

text: Several countries have adopted a workweek from Monday morning until Friday noon, either due to religious rules (observation of shabbat in Israel whose workweek is Sunday to Friday afternoon) or the growing predominance of a 35–37.5 hour workweek in continental Europe. Several of the Muslim countries have a standard Sunday through Thursday or Saturday through Wednesday workweek leaving Friday for religious observance, and providing breaks for the daily prayer times.[citation needed]

text: Average annual hours actually worked per worker[edit]

text: OECD ranking[edit]

text:
2016[33]

Rank
Country
Hours

1
 Mexico
2,255

2
 South Korea
2,069

3
 Greece
2,035

4
 Chile
1,974

5
 Russia
1,974

6
 Poland
1,928

7
 Latvia
1,910

8
 Israel
1,889

9
 Iceland
1,883

10
 Ireland
1,879

11
 Estonia
1,855

12
 Portugal
1,842

13
 United States
1,783

14
 Czech Republic
1,770

OECD average
1,763

15
 Hungary
1,761

16
 New Zealand
1,752

17
 Slovak Republic
1,740

18
 Italy
1,730

19
 Japan
1,713

20
 Canada
1,703

21
 Spain
1,695

22
 Slovenia
1,682

23
 United Kingdom
1,676

24
 Australia
1,669

25
 Finland
1,653

26
 Sweden
1,621

27
 Austria
1,601

28
  Switzerland
1,590

29
 Belgium
1,541

30
 Luxembourg
1,512

31
 France
1,472

32
 Netherlands
1,430

33
 Norway
1,424

34
 Denmark
1,410

35
 Germany
1,363

2015[34]

Rank
Country
Hours

1
 Mexico
2,246

2
 South Korea
2,113

3
 Greece
2,033

4
 Chile
1,988

5
 Poland
1,963

6
 Latvia
1,903

7
 Iceland
1,880

8
 Portugal
1,868

9
 Israel
1,858

10
 Estonia
1,852

11
 Turkey
1,832

12
 Ireland
1,820

13
 United States
1,790

14
 Czech Republic
1,779

OECD average
1,766

15
 New Zealand
1,757

16
 Slovak Republic
1,754

17
 Hungary
1,749

18
 Italy
1,725

19
 Japan
1,719

20
 Canada
1,706

21
 Spain
1,691

22
 Slovenia
1,676

23
 United Kingdom
1,674

24
 Australia
1,665

25
 Finland
1,646

26
 Austria
1,625

27
 Sweden
1,612

28
  Switzerland
1,590

29
 Belgium
1,541

30
 Luxembourg
1,507

31
 France
1,482

32
 Denmark
1,457

33
 Norway
1,424

34
 Netherlands
1,419

35
 Germany
1,371

2014[35]

Rank
Country
Hours

1
 Mexico
2,228

2
 South Korea
2,124

3
 Greece
2,042

4
 Chile
1,990

5
 Latvia
1,938

6
 Poland
1,923

7
 Iceland
1,864

8
 Estonia
1,859

9
 Hungary
1,858

10
 Portugal
1,857

11
 Israel
1,853

12
 Turkey
1,832

13
 Ireland
1,821

14
 United States
1,789

15
 Czech Republic
1,776

OECD average
1,770

16
 Slovak Republic
1,763

17
 New Zealand
1,762

18
 Italy
1,734

19
 Japan
1,729

20
 Canada
1,704

21
 Spain
1,689

22
 United Kingdom
1,677

23
 Australia
1,664

24
 Finland
1,645

25
 Luxembourg
1,643

26
 Austria
1,629

27
 Sweden
1,609

28
 Belgium
1,576

29
  Switzerland
1,568

30
 Slovenia
1,561

31
 France
1,473

32
 Denmark
1,436

33
 Norway
1,427

34
 Netherlands
1,425

35
 Germany
1,371

text: Differences among countries and regions[edit]

text: South Korea[edit]

text: South Korea has the fastest shortening working time in the OECD,[36] which is the result of the government's proactive move to lower working hours at all levels to increase leisure and relaxation time, which introduced the mandatory forty-hour, five-day working week in 2004 for companies with over 1,000 employees. Beyond regular working hours, it is legal to demand up to 12 hours of overtime during the week, plus another 16 hours on weekends.[citation needed] The 40-hour workweek expanded to companies with 300 employees or more in 2005, 100 employees or more in 2006, 50 or more in 2007, 20 or more in 2008 and a full inclusion to all workers nationwide in July 2011.[37] The government has continuously increased public holidays to 16 days in 2013, more than the 10 days of the United States and double that of the United Kingdom's 8 days.[38] Despite those efforts, South Korea's work hours are still relatively long, with an average 2,163 hours per year in 2012.[39]

text: Japan[edit]

text: Work hours in Japan are decreasing, but many Japanese still work long hours.[40] Recently, Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) issued a draft report recommending major changes to the regulations that govern working hours. The centerpiece of the proposal is an exemption from overtime pay for white-collar workers.[citation needed]Japan has enacted an 8-hour work day and 40-hour work week (44 hours in specified workplaces). The overtime limits are: 15 hours a week, 27 hours over two weeks, 43 hours over four weeks, 45 hours a month, 81 hours over two months and 120 hours over three months; however, some workers get around these restrictions by working several hours a day without 'clocking in' whether physically or metaphorically.[41][citation needed] The overtime allowance should not be lower than 125% and not more than 150% of the normal hourly rate.[42]

text: European Countries[edit]

text: In most European Union countries, working time is gradually decreasing.[43] The European Union's working time directive imposes a 48-hour maximum working week that applies to every member state except the United Kingdom and Malta (which have an opt-out, meaning that UK-based employees may work longer than 48 hours if they wish, but they cannot be forced to do so).[44] France has enacted a 35-hour workweek by law, and similar results have been produced in other countries through collective bargaining.[citation needed] A major reason for the low annual hours worked in Europe is a relatively high amount of paid annual leave.[45] Fixed employment comes with four to six weeks of holiday as standard. In the UK, for example, full-time employees are entitled to 28 days of paid leave a year.[46] It is commonly understood working hours in the UK are 09.00 to 17.00.[citation needed]

text: Mexico[edit]

text: Mexican laws mandate a maximum of 48 hours of work per week, but they are rarely observed or enforced due to loopholes in the law, the volatility of labor rights in Mexico, and its underdevelopment relative to other members countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Indeed, private sector employees often work overtime without receiving overtime compensation. Fear of unemployment and threats by employers explain in part why the 48-hour work week is disregarded.[citation needed].

text: Colombia[edit]

text: Articles 161 to 167 of the Substantive Work Code in Colombia provide for a maximum of 48 hours of work a week.[47]

text: Australia[edit]

text: In Australia, between 1974 and 1997 no marked change took place in the average amount of time spent at work by Australians of "prime working age" (that is, between 25 and 54 years of age). Throughout this period, the average time spent at work by prime working-age Australians (including those who did not spend any time at work) remained stable at between 27 and 28 hours per week. This unchanging average, however, masks a significant redistribution of work from men to women. Between 1974 and 1997, the average time spent at work by prime working-age Australian men fell from 45 to 36 hours per week, while the average time spent at work by prime working-age Australian women rose from 12 to 19 hours per week. In the period leading up to 1997, the amount of time Australian workers spent at work outside the hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays also increased.[48]

text: In 2009, a rapid increase in the number of working hours was reported in a study by The Australia Institute. The study found the average Australian worked 1855 hours per year at work. According to Clive Hamilton of The Australia Institute, this surpasses even Japan. The Australia Institute believes that Australians work the highest number of hours in the developed world.[49]

text: From January 1, 2010, Australia enacted a 38-hour workweek in accordance with the Fair Work Act 2009, with an allowance for additional hours as overtime.[50]

text: The vast majority of full-time employees in Australia work additional overtime hours. A 2015 survey found that of Australia's 7.7 million full-time workers, 5 million put in more than 40 hours a week, including 1.4 million who worked more than 50 hours a week and 270,000 who put in more than 70 hours.[51]

text: United States[edit]

text: In 2006, the average man employed full-time worked 8.4 hours per work day, and the average woman employed full-time worked 7.7 hours per work day.[19] There is no mandatory minimum amount of paid time off for sickness or holiday. The majority of jobs in America do not offer paid time off. [52] Because of the pressure of working, time is increasingly viewed as a commodity.[53]

text: Recent history[edit]

text: By 1946 the United States government had inaugurated the 40-hour work week for all federal employees.[54] Beginning in 1950, under the Truman Administration, the United States became the first known industrialized nation to explicitly (albeit secretly) and permanently forswear a reduction of working time. Given the military-industrial requirements of the Cold War, the authors of the then secret National Security Council Report 68 (NSC-68)[55] proposed the US government undertake a massive permanent national economic expansion that would let it “siphon off” a part of the economic activity produced to support an ongoing military buildup to contain the Soviet Union. In his 1951 Annual Message to the Congress, President Truman stated:

text: In terms of manpower, our present defense targets will require an increase of nearly one million men and women in the armed forces within a few months, and probably not less than four million more in defense production by the end of the year. This means that an additional 8 percent of our labor force, and possibly much more, will be required by direct defense needs by the end of the year. These manpower needs will call both for increasing our labor force by reducing unemployment and drawing in women and older workers, and for lengthening hours of work in essential industries.[56]

text: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average non-farm private sector employee worked 34.5 hours per week as of June 2012.[57]

text: As President Truman’s 1951 message had predicted, the share of working women rose from 30 percent of the labor force in 1950 to 47 percent by 2000 – growing at a particularly rapid rate during the 1970s.[58] According to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report issued May 2002, "In 1950, the overall participation rate of women was 34 percent ... The rate rose to 38 percent in 1960, 43 percent in 1970, 52 percent in 1980, and 58 percent in 1990 and reached 60 percent by 2000. The overall labor force participation rate of women is projected to attain its highest level in 2010, at 62 percent.”[58] The inclusion of women in the work force can be seen as symbolic of social progress as well as of increasing American productivity and hours worked.

text: Between 1950 and 2007 official price inflation was measured to 861 percent. President Truman, in his 1951 message to Congress, predicted correctly that his military buildup “will cause intense and mounting inflationary pressures.” Using the data provided by the United State Bureau of Labor Statistics, Erik Rauch has estimated productivity to have increased by nearly 400%.[59] According to Rauch, “if productivity means anything at all, a worker should be able to earn the same standard of living as a 1950 worker in only 11 hours per week.”

text: In the United States, the working time for upper-income professionals has increased compared to 1965, while total annual working time for low-skill, low-income workers has decreased.[60] This effect is sometimes called the "leisure gap".

text: The average working time of married couples – of both spouses taken together – rose from 56 hours in 1969 to 67 hours in 2000.[61]

text: Overtime rules[edit]

text: Many professional workers put in longer hours than the forty-hour standard.[62] In professional industries like investment banking and large law firms, a forty-hour workweek is considered inadequate and may result in job loss or failure to be promoted.[63][64] Medical residents in the United States routinely work long hours as part of their training.

text: Workweek policies are not uniform in the U.S. Many compensation arrangements are legal, and three of the most common are wage, commission, and salary payment schemes. Wage earners are compensated on a per-hour basis, whereas salaried workers are compensated on a per-week or per-job basis, and commission workers get paid according to how much they produce or sell.

text: Under most circumstances, wage earners and lower-level employees may be legally required by an employer to work more than forty hours in a week; however, they are paid extra for the additional work. Many salaried workers and commission-paid sales staff are not covered by overtime laws. These are generally called "exempt" positions, because they are exempt from federal and state laws that mandate extra pay for extra time worked.[65] The rules are complex, but generally exempt workers are executives, professionals, or sales staff.[66] For example, school teachers are not paid extra for working extra hours. Business owners and independent contractors are considered self-employed, and none of these laws apply to them.

text: Generally, workers are paid time-and-a-half, or 1.5 times the worker's base wage, for each hour of work past forty. California also applies this rule to work in excess of eight hours per day,[67] but exemptions[68] and exceptions[69] significantly limit the applicability of this law.

text: In some states, firms are required to pay double-time, or twice the base rate, for each hour of work past 60, or each hour of work past 12 in one day in California, also subject to numerous exemptions and exceptions.[67] This provides an incentive for companies to limit working time, but makes these additional hours more desirable for the worker. It is not uncommon for overtime hours to be accepted voluntarily by wage-earning workers. Unions often treat overtime as a desirable commodity when negotiating how these opportunities shall be partitioned among union members.

text: Brazil[edit]

text: The work time in Brazil is 44 hours per week, usually 8 hours per day and 4 hours on Saturday or 8.8 hours per day. On duty/no meal break jobs are 6 hours per day. Public servants work 40 hours a week.

text: It is worth noting that in Brazil meal time is not usually counted as work. There is a 1-hour break for lunch and work schedule is typically 8h00 or 9h00-noon, 13h00 -18h00. In larger cities people have lunch meal on/near the work site, while in smaller cities a sizable fraction of the employees might go home for lunch.

text: A 30-day vacation is mandatory by law and there are about 13 to 15 holidays a year, depending on the municipality.

text: China[edit]

text: China adopted a 40-hour week, eliminating half-day work on Saturdays (though this was not widely practiced initially). [70]

text: Traditionally, Chinese have worked long hours, and this has led to many deaths from overwork, with the state media reporting in 2014 that 600,000 people were dying annually from overwork. Despite this, work hours have reportedly been falling for about three decades due to rising productivity, better labor laws, and the spread of the two-day weekend. The trend has affected both factories and white-collar companies that have been responding to growing demands for easier work schedules.[71][72]

text: Hong Kong[edit]

text: Hong Kong has no legislation regarding maximum and normal working hours. The average weekly working hours of full-time employees in Hong Kong is 49 hours.[73] According to the Price and Earnings Report 2012 conducted by UBS, while the global and regional average were 1,915 and 2,154 hours per year respectively, the average working hours in Hong Kong is 2,296 hours per year, which ranked the fifth longest yearly working hours among 72 countries under study.[74] In addition, from the survey conducted by the Public Opinion Study Group of the University of Hong Kong, 79% of the respondents agree that the problem of overtime work in Hong Kong is “severe”, and 65% of the respondents support the legislation on the maximum working hours.[75] In Hong Kong, 70% of surveyed do not receive any overtime remuneration.[76] These show that people in Hong Kong concerns the working time issues. As Hong Kong implemented the minimum wage law in May 2011, the Chief Executive, Donald Tsang, of the Special Administrative Region pledged that the government will standardize working hours in Hong Kong.[77]

text: On 26 November 2012, the Labour Department of the HKSAR released the "Report of the policy study on standard working hours". The report covers three major areas, including: (1) the regimes and experience of other places in regulating working hours, (2) latest working time situations of employees in different sectors, and (3) estimation of the possible impact of introducing standard working hour in Hong Kong.[78] Under the selected parameters, from most loosen to most stringent, the estimated increase in labour cost vary from 1.1 billion to 55 billion HKD, and affect 957,100 (36.7% of total employees) to 2,378,900 (91.1%of total) employees.[73]

text: Various sectors of the community show concerns about the standard working hours in Hong Kong. The points are summarized as below:

text: Opinions from various sectors[edit]

text: Labor organizations[edit]

text: Hong Kong Catholic Commission For Labour Affairs urges the government to legislate the standard working hours in Hong Kong, and suggests a 44 hours standard, 54 hours maximum working hours in a week. The organization thinks that long working time adversely affects the family and social life and health of employees; it also indicates that the current Employment Ordinance does not regulate overtime pays, working time limits nor rest day pays, which can protect employees rights.

text: Businesses and related organizations[edit]

text: Generally, business sector agrees that it is important to achieve work-life balance, but does not support a legislation to regulate working hours limit. They believe "standard working hours" is not the best way to achieve work-life balance and the root cause of the long working hours in Hong Kong is due to insufficient labor supply. The Managing Director of Century Environmental Services Group, Catherine Yan, said Employees may want to work more to obtain a higher salary due to financial reasons. If standard working hour legislation is passed, employers will need to pay a higher salary to employees, and hence the employers may choose to segment work tasks to employer more part time employees instead of providing overtime pay to employees. She thinks this will lead to a situation that the employees may need to find two part-time jobs to earn their living, making them wasting more time on transportation from one job to another.[79]

text: The Chairman of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, Chow Chung-kong believes that it is so difficult to implement standard working hours that apply “across-the-board”, specifically, to accountants and barristers.[80] In addition, he believes that standard working hours may decrease individual employees' working hours and would not increase their actual income. It may also lead to an increase of number of part-timers in the labor market.

text: According to a study conducted jointly by the Business, Economic and Public Affairs Research Centre and Enterprise and Social Development Research Centre of Hong Kong Shue Yan University, 16% surveyed companies believe that a standard working hours policy can be considered, and 55% surveyed think that it would be difficult to implement standard working hours in businesses.[81]

text: Employer representative in the Labour Advisory Board, Stanley Lau, said that standard working hours will completely alter the business environment of Hong Kong, affect small and medium enterprise and weaken competitiveness of businesses. He believes that the government can encourage employers to pay overtime salary, and there is no need to regulate standard working hours.[82]

text: Political parties[edit]

text: On 17–18 October 2012, the Legislative Council members in Hong Kong debated on the motion "legislation for the regulation of working hours". Cheung Kwok-che proposed the motion "That is the Council urges the Government to introduce a bill on the regulation of working hours within this legislative session, the contents of which must include the number of standard weekly hours and overtime pay".[83] As the motion was not passed by both functional constituencies and geographical constituencies, it was negatived.[84]

text: The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions suggested a standard 44-hour work week with overtime pay of 1.5 times the usual pay. It believes the regulation of standard working hour can prevent the employers to force employees to work (overtime) without pay.[85]

text: Elizabeth Quat of Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), believed that standard working hour was a labor policy and was not related to family-friendly policies. Vice President of Young DAB, Wai-hung Chan, stated that standard working hour would bring limitations to small and medium enterprises. He thought that the government should discuss the topic with public more before legislating the standard working hour.

text: The Democratic Party suggested a 44-hour standard work week and compulsory overtime pay to help achieve the balance between work, rest and entertainment of people in Hong Kong.[86]

text: The Labour Party believed regulating working hours such as standard working hour can help achieving the work-life balance.[87] It suggests an 8-hour work day, a 44-hour standard work week, a 60-hour maximum work week and an overtime pay of 1.5 times the usual pay.[76]

text: Poon Siu-ping of Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions thought that it is possible to set work hour limit for all industries; and the regulation on working hours can ensure the overtime payment by employers to employees, and protect employees’ health.

text: The Civic party suggests "to actively study setting weekly standard working hours at 44 hours to align with family-friendly policies" in LegCo Election 2012.[88]

text: Member of Economic Synergy, Jeffery Lam, believes that standard working hour would adversely affect productivity, tense the employer-employee relationship, and increase the pressure faced by business who suffer from inadequate workers. He does not support the regulation on working hours at the current situation.[89]

text: Government[edit]

text: Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, the Secretary for Labour and Welfare Bureau, said the Executive Council has already received the government report on working hours in June, and the Labour Advisory Board and the LegCo’s Manpower Panel will receive the report in late November and December respectively.[90] On 26 November 2012, the Labour Department released the report, and the report covered the regimes and experience of practicing standard working hours in selected regions, current work hour situations in different industries, and the impact assessment of standard working hours. Also, Matthew Cheung mentioned that the government will form a select committee by first quarter of 2013, which will include government officials, representative of labor unions and employers’ associations, academics and community leaders, to investigate the related issues. He also said that it would "perhaps be unrealistic" to put forward a bill for standard working hours in the next one to two years.[91]

text: Academics[edit]

text: Yip Siu-fai, Professor of the Department of Social Work and Social Administration of HKU, said that professions such as nurse, accountants, have a long work time, and this may affect their social life. He believes standard working hour can help making Hong Kong to become a family-friendly workplace and increase fertility rate. Randy Chiu, Professor of Department of Management of HKBU, said that standard working hour could avoid excessively long working hours of employees.[92] He also said that nowadays Hong Kong attains almost full employment, has a high rental price and severe inflation, recently implemented minimum wage, and affected by gloomy global economy; he also mentioned that comprehensive considerations on macroeconomic situations are needed, and pushed to the awareness that it is perhaps inappropriate to adopt working time regulation examples in other countries to Hong Kong.[93]

text: Lee Shu-Kam, Associate Professor of the Department of Economics and Finance of HKSYU, believed standard working hours cannot achieve ‘work-life balance’. He referenced the research to the US by the University of California, Los Angeles in 1999 and pointed out that in the industries and regions which the wage elasticity is low, the effects of standard working hours on lowering actual working time and increasing wage is limited: for regions where labor supply is inadequate, standard working hours can protect employees’ benefit yet cause unemployment; but for the regions, such as Japan, where the problem does not exist, standard working hour would only lead to unemployment.[94] In addition, he said the effect of standard working hour is similar to that of giving overtime pay, say, making employees to favor overtime work more. In this sense, standard working hour does not match its principle: to shorten work time and increase recreation time of employees.[95] He believed that the key point is to help employees to achieve work-life balance and get a win-win situation of employers and employees.

text: Francis Lui, Head and Professor of the Department of Economics of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, believed that the standard working hour may not lower work time but increase unemployment. He used Japan as an example to illustrate that the implementation of standard working hours lowered productivity per head and demotivated the economy. He also said that even if the standard working hours can shorten employees’ weekly working hours, they may need to work for more years to earn sufficient amount of money for retirement, i.e. delay their retirement age. The working time in the whole life may not change.[96]

text: Lok-sang Ho, Professor of Economics and Director of the Centre for Public Policy Studies of Lingnan University, pointed out that “as different employees perform various jobs and under different degrees of pressures, it may not appropriate to establish standard working hours in Hong Kong; and he proposed 50-hour maximum work week to protect workers health.[97]

text: Singapore[edit]

text: Singapore enacts an 8-hour normal work day, a 44-hour normal working week, and a maximum 48-hour work week. It is to note that if the employee works no more than five days a week, the employee’s normal working day is 9-hour and the working week is 44 hours. Also, if the number of hours worked of the worker is less than 44 hours every alternate week, the 44-hour weekly limit may be exceeded in the other week. Yet, this is subjected to the pre-specification in the service contract and the maximum should not exceed 48 hours per week or 88 hours in any consecutive two week time. In addition, a shift worker can work up to 12 hours a day, provided that the average working hours per week do not exceed 44 over a consecutive 3-week time. The overtime allowance per overtime hour must not be less than 1.5 times of the employee’s hour basic rates.[98]

text: Other countries[edit]

text: The Kapauku people of Papua think it is bad luck to work two consecutive days. The !Kung Bushmen work just two-and-a-half days per week, rarely more than six hours per day.[99]

text: The work week in Samoa is approximately 30 hours,[100] and although average annual Samoan cash income is relatively low, by some measures, the Samoan standard of living is quite good.

text: In India, particularly in smaller companies, someone generally works for 11 hours a day and 6 days a week. No Overtime is paid for extra time. Law enforcement is negligible in regulating the working hours. A typical office will open at 09:00 or 09:30 and officially end the work day at about 19:00. However, many workers and especially managers will stay later in the office due to additional work load. However, large Indian companies and MNC offices located in India tend to follow a 5-day, 8- to 9-hour per day working schedule. The Government of India in some of its offices also follows a 5-day week schedule.[citation needed]

text: Nigeria has public servants that work 35 hours per week.[citation needed]

text: Recent trends[edit]

text: Many modern workplaces are experimenting with accommodating changes in the workforce and the basic structure of scheduled work. Flextime allows office workers to shift their working time away from rush-hour traffic; for example, arriving at 10:00 am and leaving at 6:00 pm. Telecommuting permits employees to work from their homes or in satellite locations (not owned by the employer), eliminating or reducing long commute times in heavily populated areas. Zero-hour contracts establish work contracts without minimum-hour guarantees; workers are paid only for the hours they work.


document_title: Swan Lake

question_text: what is the name of the black swan in swan lake

question_tokens: what is the name of the black swan in swan lake

root

text: Swan Lake

text: History[edit]

text: Origins of the ballet[edit]

text: There is no evidence to prove who wrote the original libretto, or where the idea for the plot came from.  Russian and German folk tales have been proposed as possible sources, including "The White Duck" and "The Stolen Veil" by Johann Karl August Musäus, but both those tales differ significantly from the ballet.[4]

tag: p

text: One theory is that the original choreographer, Julius Reisinger, who was a Bohemian (and therefore likely to be familiar with The Stolen Veil), created the story.  Another theory is that it was written by Vladimir Petrovich Begichev, director of the Moscow Imperial Theatres at the time, possibly with Vasily Geltser, Danseur of the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre (a surviving copy of the libretto bears his name). Since the first published libretto does not correspond with Tchaikovsky's music in many places, one theory is that the first published version was written by a journalist after viewing initial rehearsals (new opera and ballet productions were always reported in the newspapers, along with their respective scenarios).

text: Some contemporaries of Tchaikovsky recalled the composer taking great interest in the life story of Bavarian King Ludwig II, whose tragic life had supposedly been marked by the sign of Swan and could have been the prototype of the dreamer Prince Siegfried.[5] However, Ludwig's tragic death happened 10 years after the first performance of the ballet.

text: Begichev commissioned the score of Swan Lake from Tchaikovsky in May 1875 for 800 rubles. Tchaikovsky worked with only a basic outline from Julius Reisinger of the requirements for each dance.[6] However, unlike the instructions for the scores of The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker, no written instruction is known to have survived.

text: Tchaikovsky's influences[edit]

text: From around the time of the turn of the 19th century until the beginning of the 1890s, scores for ballets were almost always written by composers known as "specialists," who were highly skilled at scoring the light, decorative, melodious, and rhythmically clear music that was at that time in vogue for ballet. Tchaikovsky studied the music of "specialists" such as the Italian Cesare Pugni and the Austrian Ludwig Minkus, before setting to work on Swan Lake.

text: Tchaikovsky had a rather negative opinion of the "specialist" ballet music until he studied it in detail, being impressed by the nearly limitless variety of infectious melodies their scores contained. Tchaikovsky most admired the ballet music of such composers as Léo Delibes, Adolphe Adam, and later, Riccardo Drigo. He would later write to his protégé, the composer Sergei Taneyev, "I listened to the Delibes ballet 'Sylvia'...what charm, what elegance, what wealth of melody, rhythm, and harmony. I was ashamed, for if I had known of this music then, I would not have written 'Swan Lake.'" Tchaikovsky most admired Adam's 1844 score for Giselle, which used the Leitmotif technique: associating certain themes with certain characters or moods, a technique he would use in Swan Lake, and later, The Sleeping Beauty.

text: Tchaikovsky drew on previous compositions for his Swan Lake score.  According to two of Tchaikovsky's relatives – his nephew Yuri Lvovich Davydov and his niece Anna Meck-Davydova – the composer had earlier created a little ballet called The Lake of the Swans at their home in 1871. This ballet included the famous Leitmotif, the Swan's Theme or Song of the Swans. He also made use of material from The Voyevoda, an opera he had abandoned in 1868. The Grand adage (a.k.a. the Love Duet) from the second scene of Swan Lake was fashioned from an aria from that opera, as was the Valse des fiancées from the third scene. Another number which included a theme from The Voyevoda was the Entr'acte of the fourth scene.

text: By April 1876 the score was complete, and rehearsals began. Soon Reisinger began setting certain numbers aside that he dubbed "undanceable." Reisinger even began choreographing dances to other composers' music, but Tchaikovsky protested and his pieces were reinstated.  Although the two artists were required to collaborate, each seemed to prefer working as independently of the other as possible.[7]

text: Composition process[edit]

text: Tchaikovsky's excitement with Swan Lake is evident from the speed with which he composed: commissioned in the spring of 1875, the piece was created within one full year. His letters to Sergei Taneyev from August 1875 indicate, however, that it was not only his excitement that compelled him to create it so quickly but his wish to finish it as soon as possible, so as to allow him to start on an opera. Respectively, he created scores of the first three numbers of the ballet, then the orchestration in the fall and winter, and was still struggling with the instrumentation in the spring. By April 1876, the work was complete. Tchaikovsky's mention of a draft suggests the presence of some sort of abstract but no such draft has ever been seen. Tchaikovsky wrote various letters to friends expressing his longstanding desire to work with this type of music, and his excitement concerning his current stimulating, albeit laborious task.[8]

text: Performance history[edit]

text: Moscow première (world première)

text:
Date: 4 March (OS 20 February) 1877
Place: Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow
Balletmaster: Julius Reisinger
Conductor: Stepan Ryabov
Scene Designers: Karl Valts (Acts 2 & 4), Ivan Shangin (Act 1), Karl Groppius (Act 3)

tag: ul

text: St. Petersburg première

text:
Date: 27 January 1895
Place: Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg
Balletmaster: Marius Petipa (Acts 1 & 3), Lev Ivanov (Acts 2 & 4)
Conductor: Riccardo Drigo
Scene Designers: Ivan Andreyev, Mikhail Bocharov, Henrich Levogt
Costume Designer: Yevgeni Ponomaryov[9]

text: Other notable productions

text:
1880 and 1882, Moscow, Bolshoi Theatre, staged by Joseph Hansen after Reisinger, conductor and designers as in première
1901, Moscow, Bolshoi Theatre, staged by Aleksandr Gorsky, conducted by Andrey Arends, scenes by Aleksandr Golovin (Act 1), Konstantin Korovin (Acts 2 & 4), N. Klodt (Act 3)
1911, London, Ballets Russes, Sergei Diaghilev production, choreography by Michel Fokine after Petipa-Ivanov, scenes by Golovin and Korovin

text: Original interpreters

text:
Rôle

Moscow 1877

Moscow 1880

St. Petersburg 1895[9]

Moscow 1901

London 1911

Queen

Olga Nikolayeva

Giuseppina Cecchetti

Siegfried

Victor Gillert

Alfred Bekefi

Pavel Gerdt

Mikhail Mordkin

Vaslav Nijinsky

Benno

Sergey Nikitin

Aleksandr Oblakov

Wolfgang

Wilhelm Wanner

Gillert

Odette

Pelageya Karpakova

Yevdokiya Kalmїkova

Pierina Legnani

Adelaide Giuri

Mathilde Kschessinska

Von Rothbart

Sergey Sokolov

Aleksey Bulgakov

K. Kubakin

Odile

*

Pierina Legnani

Mathilde Kschessinska

tag: table

text: Original production of 1877[edit]

text: The première on Friday, 4 March 1877, was given as a benefit performance for the ballerina Pelageya Karpakova (also known as Polina Karpakova), who performed the role of Odette, with première danseur Victor Gillert as Prince Siegfried. Karpakova may also have danced the part Odile, although it is believed the ballet originally called for two different dancers. It is now common practice for the same ballerina to dance both Odette and Odile.

text: The Russian ballerina Anna Sobeshchanskaya was originally cast as Odette, but was replaced when a governing official in Moscow complained about her, claiming she had accepted jewelry from him, only to then marry a fellow danseur and sell the pieces for cash.

text: The première was not well-received. Though there were a few critics who recognised the virtues of the score, most considered it to be far too complicated for ballet. It was labelled, "too noisy, too 'Wagnerian' and too symphonic."[10] The critics also thought Reisinger's choreography was "unimaginative and altogether unmemorable."[10] The German origins of the story were "treated with suspicion while the tale itself was regarded as 'stupid' with unpronounceable surnames for its characters."[10] Karpakova was a secondary soloist and "not particularly convincing."[10]

text: "The poverty of the production, meaning the décor and costumes, the absence of outstanding performers, the Balletmaster's weakness of imagination, and, finally, the orchestra...all of this together permitted (Tchaikovsky) with good reason to cast the blame for the failure on others."

text: Yet the fact remains (and is too often omitted in accounts of this initial production) that this staging survived for six years with a total of 41 performances – many more than several other ballets from the repertoire of this theatre.[11]

text: Tchaikovsky pas de deux 1877[edit]

text: On 26 April 1877, Anna Sobeshchanskaya made her début as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, and from the start she was completely dissatisfied with the ballet. Sobeshchanskaya asked Marius Petipa—Premier Maître de Ballet of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres— to choreograph a pas de deux to replace the pas de six in the third act (for a ballerina to request a supplemental pas or variation was standard practice in 19th century ballet, and often these "custom-made" dances were the legal property of the ballerina they were composed for).

text: Petipa created the pas de deux to music by Ludwig Minkus, ballet composer to the St Petersburg Imperial Theatres. The piece was a standard pas de deux classique consisting of a short entrée, the grand adage, a variation for each dancer individually, and a coda.

text: Tchaikovsky was angered by this change, stating that whether the ballet was good or bad, he alone should be held responsible for its music. He agreed to compose a new pas de deux, but soon a problem arose: Sobeshchanskaya wanted to retain Petipa's choreography. Tchaikovsky agreed to compose a pas that would match to such a degree, the ballerina would not even be required to rehearse. Sobeshchanskaya was so pleased with Tchaikovsky's new music, she requested he compose an additional variation, which he did.

text: Until 1953 this pas de deux was thought to be lost, until an accidentally discovered repétiteur was found in the archives of the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre among the orchestral parts used for Alexander Gorsky's revival of Le Corsaire (Gorsky had included the piece in his version of Le Corsaire staged in 1912). In 1960 George Balanchine choreographed a pas de deux to this music for the Violette Verdy, and the Conrad Ludlow performed on the City Center of Music and Drama in New York City under the title Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux,[12] as it is still known and performed today.

text: Subsequent productions 1879–1894[edit]

text: Julius Reisinger's successor as balletmaster was Joseph Peter Hansen. Hansen made considerable efforts to salvage Swan Lake and on 13 January 1880 he presented a new production of the ballet for his own benefit performance. The part of Odette/Odile was danced by Evdokia Kalmykova, a student of the Moscow Imperial Ballet School, with Alfred Bekefi as Prince Siegfried. This production was far more well-received than the original, though by no means a great success. Hansen presented another version of Swan Lake on 28 October 1882, again with Kalmykova as Odette/Odile. For this production Hansen arranged a Grand Pas for the ballroom scene which he titled La Cosmopolitana. This was taken from the European section of the Grand Pas d'action known as The Allegory of the Continents from Marius Petipa's 1875 ballet The Bandits to the music of Ludwig Minkus. Hansen's version of Swan Lake was given only four times, the final performance being on 2 January 1883, and soon the ballet was dropped from the repertory altogether.

text: In all, Swan Lake was given a total of forty-one performances between its première and the final performance of 1883 – a rather lengthy run for a ballet that was so poorly received upon its premiere. Hansen would go on to become Balletmaster to the Alhambra Theatre in London and on 1 December 1884 he presented a one-act ballet titled The Swans, which was inspired by the second scene of Swan Lake. The music was composed by the Alhambra Theatre's chef d'orchestre Georges Jacoby.

text: The second scene of Swan Lake was then presented on 21 February in Prague by the Ballet of the National Theatre in a version mounted by the Balletmaster August Berger. The ballet was given during two concerts which were conducted by Tchaikovsky. The composer noted in his diary that he experienced "a moment of absolute happiness" when the ballet was performed. Berger's production followed the 1877 libretto, though the names of Prince Siegfried and Benno were changed to Jaroslav and Zdeňek, with the rôle of Benno danced by a female dancer en travestie. The rôle of Prince Siegfried was danced by Berger himself with the ballerina Giulietta Paltriniera-Bergrova as Odette. Berger's production was only given eight performances and was even planned for production at the Fantasia Garden in Moscow in 1893, but it never materialised.

text: Petipa–Ivanov–Drigo revival of 1895[edit]

text: During the late 1880s and early 1890s, Petipa and Vsevolozhsky discussed with Tchaikovsky the possibility of reviving Swan Lake. However, Tchaikovsky died on 6 November 1893, just when plans to revive Swan Lake were beginning to come to fruition. It remains uncertain whether Tchaikovsky was prepared to revise the music for this revival. Whatever the case, as a result of Tchaikovsky's death, Drigo was forced to revise the score himself, after receiving approval from Tchaikovsky's younger brother, Modest. There are major differences between Drigo's and Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake score. Today, it is Riccardo Drigo's revision of Tchaikovsky's score, and not Tchaikovsky's original score of 1877, that most ballet companies use.

text: In February 1894, two memorial concerts planned by Vsevolozhsky were given in honor of Tchaikovsky. The production included the second Act of Swan Lake, choreographed by Lev Ivanov, Second Balletmaster to the Imperial Ballet. Ivanov's choreography for the memorial concert was unanimously hailed as wonderful.

text: The revival of Swan Lake was planned for Piera Legnani's benefit performance in the 1894–1895 season.  The death of Tsar Alexander III on 1 November 1894 and the ensuing period of official mourning brought all ballet performances and rehearsals to a close for some time, and as a result all efforts could be concentrated on the pre-production of the full revival of Swan Lake. Ivanov and Petipa collaborated on the production, with Ivanov retaining his dances for the second Act while choreographing the fourth, with Petipa staging the first and third Acts.

text: Modest Tchaikovsky was called upon to make changes to the ballet's libretto, including the character of Odette changing from a fairy swan-maiden into a cursed mortal woman, the ballet's villain changing from Odette's stepmother to the magician von Rothbart, and the ballet's finale: instead of the lovers simply drowning at the hand of Odette's stepmother as in the original 1877 scenario, Odette commits suicide by drowning herself, with Prince Siegfried choosing to die as well, rather than live without her, and soon the lovers' spirits are reunited in an apotheosis.[13] Aside from the revision of the libretto the ballet was changed from four acts to three—with Act II becoming Act I-Scene 2.

text: All was ready by the beginning of 1895 and the ballet had its première on Friday, 27 January. Pierina Legnani danced Odette/Odile, with Pavel Gerdt as Prince Siegfried, Alexei Bulgakov as Rothbart, and Alexander Oblakov as Benno. Most of the reviews in the St. Petersburg newspapers were positive.

text: Unlike the première of The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake did not dominate the repertory of the Mariinsky Theatre in its first season. It was given only sixteen performances between the première and the 1895–1896 season, and was not performed at all in 1897. Even more surprising, the ballet was performed only four times in 1898 and 1899. The ballet belonged solely to Legnani until she left St. Petersburg for her native Italy in 1901. After her departure, the ballet was taken over by Mathilde Kschessinskaya, who was as much celebrated in the rôle as was her Italian predecessor.

text: Later productions[edit]

text: Throughout the performance history of Swan Lake, the 1895 edition has served as the version on which most stagings have been based. Nearly every balletmaster or choreographer who has re-staged Swan Lake has made modifications to the ballet's scenario, while still maintaining much of the traditional choreography for the dances, which is regarded as virtually sacrosanct. Likewise, over time the rôle of Siegfried has become more prominent, due largely to the evolution of ballet technique.

text: In 1940, San Francisco Ballet became the first American company to stage a complete production of Swan Lake. The enormously successful production starred Lew Christensen as Prince Siegfried, Jacqueline Martin as Odette, and Janet Reed as Odile. Willam Christensen based his choreography on the Petipa-Ivanov production, turning to San Francisco's large population of Russian émigrés, headed by Princess and Prince Vasili Alexandrovich of Russia, to help him ensure that the production succeeded in its goal of preserving Russian culture in San Francisco.[14]

text: Several notable productions have diverged from the original and its 1895 revival:

text:
Illusions Like "Swan Lake" 1976: John Neumeier Hamburg Ballet, Neumeier interpolated the story of Ludwig II of Bavaria into the Swan Lake plot, via Ludwig's fascination with swans. Much of the original score was used with additional Tchaikovsky material and the choreography combined the familiar Petipa/Ivanov material with new dances and scenes by Neumeier. The ballet finishes with Ludwig's death by drowning while confined to an asylum, set to the dramatic music for the Act Three conclusion. With the theme of the unhappy royal being forced into heterosexual marriage for reasons of state and also the cross reference to the personal lives of actual royalty, this work anticipated both Bourne's and Murphy's interpretation. Illusions Like "Swan Lake"  remains in the repertoire of major German ballet companies.
Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake departed from the traditional ballet by replacing the female corps de ballet with male dancers.  It has been performed on extended tours in Greece, Israel, Turkey, Australia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Russia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United States, and Ireland in addition to the United Kingdom, and has won over 30 international awards to date.[15]
The 2000 American Ballet Theatre version (taped for television in 2005), rather than having the curtain down as the slow introduction is played, used this music to accompany a new prologue in which the audience is shown how Rothbart first transforms Odette into a swan. This prologue is similar to Vladimir Burmeister's production of "Swan Lake" (firstly staged in Stanislavsky Theatre in Moscow, 1953) but has some differences. Rothbart in this production is played by two dancers; one appears as a handsome young man who is easily able to lure Odette in the new prologue, and the other dancer is covered in sinister "monster makeup" which reveals the magician's true self. (in the film Black Swan, Natalie Portman, as Nina, dreams this in the film's opening sequence). About half-an-hour of the complete score is omitted from this production.[citation needed]
Graeme Murphy's Swan Lake was first performed in 2002, and was loosely based on the breakdown of the marriage of Lady Diana to Prince Charles and his relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles. It combined the rôles of Rothbart and Odile into that of a Baroness, and the focus of the story is a love triangle.[16]
In 2010, Black Swan, a film starring Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis, contained sequences from Swan Lake.[citation needed]
In 2010, South African choreographer and ballet dancer Dada Masilo, remade Tchaikovsky's classic.[17] Her version was a mix of classic ballet and African dance. She also made a plot twist by presenting Odile (the black swan) as a gay male swan rather than a female swan.[18][19]

text: Instrumentation[edit]

text: Swan Lake is scored for the typical late 19th-century large orchestra:

text:
Strings: violins I and II; violas, violoncellos; double basses
Woodwinds: piccolo; 2 flutes; 2 oboes; 2 clarinets in B♭, A and C; 2 bassoons
Brass: 4 French horns in F; 2 cornets in A and B♭; 2 trumpets in F, D, and E; 3 trombones (2 tenor, 1 bass); tuba
Percussion: timpani; snare drum; cymbals; bass drum; triangle; tambourine; castanets; tam-tam; glockenspiel; chimes
Other: harp

text: Roles[edit]

text: This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text:
Princess Odette (the Swan Queen and the White Swan or also the Swan Princess), a beautiful Princess, who has been transformed into a white swan.
Prince Siegfried, a handsome Prince who falls in love with Odette
Baron Von Rothbart, an evil sorcerer, who has enchanted Odette
Odile (the Black Swan), Rothbart's daughter
Benno von Sommerstern, the Prince's friend
The Queen, Prince Siegfried's mother
Wolfgang, his tutor
Baron von Stein
The Baroness, his wife
Freiherr von Schwarzfels
His wife
A herald
A footman
Court gentlemen and ladies, friends of the prince, heralds, guests, pages, villagers, servants, swans, cygnets

text: Variations to characters[edit]

text: By 1895, Benno von Sommerstern had become just "Benno," and Odette "Queen of the Swans." Also Baron von Stein, his wife, and Freiherr von Schwarzfels and his wife were no longer identified on the program. The sovereign or ruling Princess is often rendered "Queen Mother."

text: The character of Rothbart (sometimes spelled Rotbart) has been open to many interpretations. The reason for his curse upon Odette is unknown; several versions, including two feature films, have suggested reasons, but none is typically explained by the ballet. He is rarely portrayed in human form, except in Act III.  He is usually shown as an owl-like creature.  In most productions, the couple's sacrifice results in his destruction.  However, there are versions in which he is triumphant.  One example is the Bolshoi Ballet's version{{Which version?|reason=I have not seen this in Bolshoi's versions, and the later part is also in contrast with this information.|date=October 2018}}, where he plays a wicked game of fate with Siegfried, which he wins at the end, causing Siegfried to lose everything. In the second American Ballet Theatre production of Swan Lake, he is portrayed by two dancers: a young, handsome one who lures Odette to her doom in the prologue, and a reptilian creature.  In this version, the lovers'  suicide inspires the rest of Rothbart's imprisoned swans to turn on him and overcome his spell.

text: Odile, Rothbart's daughter usually wears jet black (though in the 1895 production, she did not), and appears only in Act III. In most modern productions, she is portrayed as Odette's exact double (though the resemblance is because of Rothbart's magic), and therefore Siegfried cannot be blamed for believing her to be Odette.  There is a suggestion that in the original production, Odette and Odile were danced by two different ballerinas. This is also the case in some avant garde productions.

text: Synopsis[edit]

text: Swan Lake is generally presented in either four acts, four scenes (primarily outside Russia and Eastern Europe) or three acts, four scenes (primarily in Russia and Eastern Europe). The biggest difference of productions all over the world is that the ending, originally tragic, is now sometimes altered to a happy ending.

text: Prologue[edit]

text: Some productions include a prologue that shows how Odette first meets Rothbart, who turns Odette into a swan.

text: Act 1[edit]

text: A magnificent park before a palace.

text: [Scène: Allegro giusto] Prince Siegfried is celebrating his birthday with his tutor, friends and peasants [Waltz]. The revelries are interrupted by Siegfried's mother, the Queen [Scène: Allegro moderato], who is concerned about her son's carefree lifestyle. She tells him that he must choose a bride at the royal ball the following evening (some productions include the presentation of some possible candidates). Siegfried is upset that he cannot marry for love. His friend Benno and the tutor try to lift his troubled mood. As evening falls [Sujet], Benno sees a flock of swans flying overhead and suggests they go on a hunt [Finale I]. Siegfried and his friends take their crossbows and set off in pursuit of the swans.

text: Act 2[edit]

text: A lakeside clearing in a forest by the ruins of a chapel. A moonlit night.

text: Siegfried has become separated from his friends. He arrives at the lakeside clearing, just as a flock of swans land [Scène. Moderato]. He aims his crossbow [Scène. Allegro moderato-], but freezes when one of them transforms into a beautiful maiden, Odette [Scène. -Moderato]. At first, she is terrified of Siegfried. When he promises not to harm her, she explains she and her companions are victims of a spell cast by the evil owl-like sorcerer Rothbart. By day they are turned into swans and only at night, by the side of the enchanted lake – created from the tears of Odette's mother – do they return to human form. The spell can only be broken if one who has never loved before swears to love Odette forever. Rothbart suddenly appears [Scène. -Allegro vivo]. Siegfried threatens to kill him but Odette intercedes – if Rothbart dies before the spell is broken, it can never be undone.

text: As Rothbart disappears, the swan maidens fill the clearing [Scène: Allegro, Moderato assai quasi andante]. Siegfried breaks his crossbow, and sets about winning Odette's trust as the two fall in love. But as dawn arrives, the evil spell draws Odette and her companions back to the lake and they are turned into swans again.

text: Act 3[edit]

text: An opulent hall in the palace.

text: Guests arrive at the palace for a costume ball. Six princesses are presented to the prince [Entrance of the Guests and Waltz], as candidates for marriage. Rothbart arrives in disguise [Scène: Allegro, Allegro giusto] with his daughter, Odile, who is transformed to look like Odette. Though the princesses try to attract the prince with their dances [Pas de six], Siegfried has eyes only for Odile. [Scène: Allegro, Tempo di valse, Allegro vivo] Odette appears (usually at the castle window) and attempts to warn Siegfried, but he does not see her. He then proclaims to the court that he will marry "Odette" (Odile) before Rothbart shows him a magical vision of Odette. Grief-stricken and realizing his mistake, Siegfried hurries back to the lake.

text: Act 4[edit]

text: By the lakeside.

text: Odette is distraught. The swan-maidens try to comfort her. Siegfried returns to the lake and makes a passionate apology. She forgives him, but his betrayal cannot be undone. Rather than remain a swan forever, Odette chooses to die. Siegfried chooses to die with her and they leap into the lake. This breaks Rothbart's spell over the swan maidens, causing him to lose his power over them and he dies. In an apotheosis, the swan maidens watch as Siegfried and Odette ascend into the Heavens together, forever united in love.

text: 1877 libretto synopsis[edit]

text: Act 1: Prince Siegfried, his friends, and a group of peasants are celebrating the Prince's coming of age. Siegfried's mother arrives to inform him that she wishes for him to marry soon so that she may make sure that he does not disgrace their family line by his marriage. She has organised a ball where Siegfried is to choose his bride from among the daughters of the nobility. After the celebration, Siegfried and his friend, Benno, spot a flock of flying swans and decide to hunt them.

text: Act 2: Siegfried and Benno track the swans to a lake, but they vanish. A woman wearing a crown appears and meets the two men. She tells them that her name is Odette and she was one of the swans they were hunting. She tells them her story: Odette’s mother, a good fairy, had married a knight, but she died and the knight remarried. Odette’s stepmother was a witch who wanted to kill her, but her grandfather saved her. Odette's grandfather had cried so much over the death of Odette’s mother that he created the lake with his tears. Odette and her companions live in the lake with Odette’s grandfather, and can transform themselves into swans whenever they wish. Odette’s stepmother still wants to kill her, and stalks her in the form of an owl, but Odette has a crown which protects her from harm. When Odette gets married, the witch will lose the power to harm her. Siegfried falls in love with Odette but Odette fears that the witch will ruin their happiness.

text: Act 3: Several young noblewomen dance at Siegfried’s ball, but the Prince refuses to marry any of them. Baron von Rothbart and his daughter, Odile, arrive. Siegfried thinks that Odile looks like Odette, but Benno doesn’t agree. Siegfried dances with Odile as he grows more and more enamored with her, and eventually agrees to marry her. At that moment, Rothbart transforms into a demon, Odile laughs, and a white swan wearing a crown appears in the window. The Prince runs out of the castle.

text: Act 4: In tears, Odette tells her friends that Siegfried did not keep his vow of love. Seeing that Siegfried is coming, Odette’s friends leave and urge her to go with them, but Odette wants to see Siegfried one last time. A storm begins. Siegfried enters and begs Odette for forgiveness. Odette refuses and attempts to leave. Siegfried snatches the crown from her head and throws it in the lake, saying "Willing or unwilling, you will always remain with me!" The owl flies overhead, carrying away the crown. "What have you done? I am dying!" Odette says, and falls into Siegfried’s arms. The lake rises from the storm and drowns Odette and Siegfried. The storm quiets, and a group of swans appears on the lake.

text: Alternative endings[edit]

text: Many different endings exist, ranging from romantic to tragic.

text:
In 1950, Konstantin Sergeyev staged a new Swan Lake for the Mariinsky Ballet (then the Kirov) after Petipa and Ivanov, but included some bits of Vaganova and Gorsky. Under the Soviet regime, the tragic ending was replaced with a happy one, so that in the Mariinsky and Bolshoi versions, Odette and Siegfried lived happily ever after.
In the version danced today by the Mariinsky Ballet, the ending is one of a "happily ever after" in which Siegfried fights Rothbart and tears off his wing, killing him. Odette is restored to human form and she and Siegfried are happily united. This version has often been used by Russian and Chinese ballet companies. A similar ending was used in The Swan Princess.
In the 1986 version Rudolf Nureyev choreographed for the Paris Opera Ballet, Rothbart fights with Siegfried, who is overcome and dies, leaving Rothbart to take Odette triumphantly up to the heavens.
In a version which has an ending very close to the 1895 Mariinsky revival, danced by American Ballet Theatre in 2005, Siegfried's mistaken pledge of fidelity to Odile consigns Odette to remain a swan forever. After realizing that her last moment of humanity is at hand, Odette commits suicide by throwing herself into the lake. The Prince does so as well. This act of sacrifice and love breaks Rothbart's power, and he is destroyed. In the final tableau, the lovers are seen rising together to heaven in apotheosis.
In a version danced by New York City Ballet in 2006 (with choreography by Peter Martins after Lev Ivanov, Marius Petipa, and George Balanchine), the Prince's declaration that he wishes to marry Odile constitutes a betrayal that condemns Odette to remain a swan forever. Odette is called away into swan form, and Siegfried is left alone in grief as the curtain falls.
In the 2006 version by Stanton Welch for Houston Ballet, also based upon Petipa and Ivanov, the last scene has Prince Siegfried attempting to kill Rothbart with his crossbow, missing and hitting Odette instead. Odette falls, Rothbart's spell now broken, and regains human form. The Prince embraces her as she dies, then carries her lifeless body into the lake, where he also drowns himself.[20][21][22]
In a version danced by San Francisco Ballet in 2009, Siegfried and Odette throw themselves into the lake, as in the 1895 Mariinsky revival, and Rothbart is destroyed. Two swans, implied to be the lovers, are then seen flying past the Moon.
In a version danced by National Ballet of Canada in 2010, Odette forgives Siegfried for his betrayal and the promise of reconciliation shines momentarily before Rothbart summons forth a violent storm. Rothbart and Siegfried struggle. When the storm subsides, Odette is left alone to mourn the dead Siegfried.
In the 2012 version performed at Blackpool Grand Theatre[23] by the Russian State Ballet of Siberia the Prince drags Rothbart into the lake and both drown. Odette is left as a swan.
In the 2015 English National Ballet version My First Swan Lake,[24] specifically recreated for young children, the power of Siegfried and Odette's love enables the other swans to rise up and defeat Rothbart, who falls to his death. This breaks the curse, and Siegfried and Odette live happily ever after. This is like the Mariinsky Ballet's "Happily ever after" endings. In a new production in 2018, Odile helps Siegfried and Odette in the end. Rotbart, who is not the father, but Odile's brother in this production, is forgiven and he gives up his evil power. Odette and Siegfried live happily ever after and stay friends with Rotbart and Odile. This is actually the only Swan Lake production that grants a peaceful solution and a happily ever after even for the characters Odile and Rotbart.
In Hübbe and Schandorff's 2015 and 2016 Royal Danish Ballet production, Siegfried is forced by Rothbart to marry his daughter, after condemning Odette to her curse as a swan forever by mistakenly professing his love to Odile.

text: Structure[edit]

text: The score used in this résumé is Tchaikovsky's score as he originally composed it (including later additions of the original 1877 production).[25] The score as listed here is different from the score as revised by Riccardo Drigo for the revival of Petipa and Ivanov that is still used to one extent or another by most ballet companies today. The titles for each number are taken from the original published score. Some of the numbers are titled simply as musical indications, those that are not are translated from their original French titles.

text: Act I[edit]

text: Act II[edit]

text: Act III[edit]

text: Act IV[edit]

text: Adaptations and references[edit]

text: Live action film[edit]

text:
The opening credits for the first sound version of Dracula (1931) starring Béla Lugosi includes a modified version of the Swan Theme from Act II. The same piece was later used for the credits of The Mummy (1932) and is often used as a backing track for the silent film, Phantom of the Opera (1925).
The film I Was an Adventuress (1940) contained a long sequence from the ballet.
In 1968–69, the Kirov Ballet along with Lenfilm studios produced a filmed version of the ballet starring Yelena Yevteyeva as Odette.
In the film Funny Girl (1968), Barbra Streisand, playing Fanny Brice, dances in a comedic spoof of Swan Lake.
The ballet is central to the plot of "Étoile" (1989).
In Brain Donors (1992), the three main characters try and succeed in sabotaging a fictional production of the ballet.
Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan (2010) focuses on two characters from Swan Lake—the Princess Odette, sometimes called the White Swan, and her evil duplicate, the witch Odile (the Black Swan), and takes its inspiration from the ballet's story, although it does not literally follow it. Clint Mansell's score contains music from the ballet, with more elaborate restructuring to fit the horror tone of the film.

text: Acrobatic[edit]

text: The Chinese State Circus has made an acrobatic version of the ballet,[26] which is[when?] on tour around the world. Set to excerpts from Tchaikovsky's suite, it contains such acrobatic moves as Odette doing a pirouette on top of Siegfried's head, without any supports.

text: Animated theatrical and direct-to-video productions[edit]

text:
Swan Lake (1981) is a feature-length anime produced by the Japanese company Toei Animation and directed by Koro Yabuki. The adaptation uses Tchaikovsky's score and remains relatively faithful to the story. Two separate English dubs were made, one featuring regular voice actors, and one using celebrities as the main principals (Pam Dawber as Odette, Christopher Atkins as Siegfried, David Hemmings as Rothbart, and Kay Lenz as Odille). The second dub was recorded at Golden Sync Studios and aired on American Movie Classics in December 1990 and The Disney Channel in June 1994.[27] It was presently distributed in the United States by The Samuel Goldwyn Company. It was also distributed in France and the United Kingdom by Rouge Citron Production.[28]
Swan Lake (1994) is a 28-minute traditional two-dimensional animation narrated by Dudley Moore. It is one of five animations in the Storyteller's Classics series. Like the 1981 version, it also uses Tchaikovsky's music throughout and is quite faithful to the original story. What sets it apart is the climactic scene, in which the prince swims across the lagoon towards Rothbart's castle to rescue Odette, who is being held prisoner there. Rothbart points his finger at the prince and zaps him to turn him into a duck – but then, the narrator declares, 'Sometimes, even magic can go very, very wrong.' After a moment, the duck turns into an eagle and flies into Rothbart's castle, where the prince resumes his human form and engages Rothbart in battle. This animation was produced by Madman Movies for Castle Communications. The director was Chris Randall, the producer was Bob Burrows, the production co-ordinator was Lesley Evans and the executive producers were Terry Shand and Geoff Kempin. The music was performed by the Moscow State Orchestra. It was shown on TVOntario in December 1997 and was distributed on home video in North America by Castle Vision International, Orion Home Video and J.L. Bowerbank & Associates.
The Swan Princess (1994) is a Nest Entertainment film based on the Swan Lake story. It stays fairly close to the original story, but does contain many differences. For example, instead of the Swan Maidens, we have the addition of sidekicks Puffin the puffin, Speed the tortoise, and Jean-Bob the frog. Several of the characters are renamed – Prince Derek instead of Siegfried, his friend Bromley instead of Benno and his tutor Rogers instead of Wolfgang; Derek's mother is named Queen Uberta. Another difference is Odette and Derek knowing each other from when they were children, which introduces us to Odette's father, King William and explains how and why Odette is kidnapped by Rothbart. The character Odile is replaced by an old hag (unnamed in this movie, but known as Bridget in the sequels), as Rothbart's sidekick until the end. Also, this version contains a happy ending, allowing both Odette and Derek to survive as humans once Rothbart is defeated. It has seven sequels, The Swan Princess: Escape from Castle Mountain (1997), The Swan Princess: The Mystery of the Enchanted Kingdom (1998), The Swan Princess Christmas (2012), The Swan Princess: A Royal Family Tale (2014), The Swan Princess: Princess Tomorrow, Pirate Today (2016), The Swan Princess: Royally Undercover (2017) and The Swan Princess: A Royal Myztery (2018), which deviate even further from the ballet. A ninth film is also said to be in the works. None of the films contain Tchaikovsky's music.
Barbie of Swan Lake (2003) is a direct-to-video children's movie featuring Tchaikovsky's music and motion capture from the New York City Ballet and based on the Swan Lake story. The story deviates more from the original than The Swan Princess, although it does consist of similarities to the plot from The Swan Princess. In this version, Odette is not a princess by birth, but a baker's daughter and instead of being kidnapped by Rothbart and taken to the lake against her will, she discovers the Enchanted Forest when she willingly follows a unicorn there. She is also made into a more dominant heroine in this version, as she is declared as being the one who is destined to save the forest from Rothbart's clutches when she frees a magic crystal. Another difference is the addition of new characters, such as Rothbart's cousin the Fairy Queen, Lila the unicorn, Erasmus the troll and the Fairy Queen's fairies and elves, who have also been turned into animals by Rothbart. These fairies and elves replace the Swan Maidens from the ballet. Also, it is the Fairy Queen's magic that allows Odette to return to her human form at night, not Rothbart's spell, which until the Fairy Queen counters, appears to be permanent. Other changes include renaming the Prince Daniel and a happy ending, instead of the ballet's tragic ending.
Barbie in the Pink Shoes (2013) features an adaptation of Swan Lake amongst its many fairytales.

text: Computer/video games[edit]

text:
The 1988 SquareSoft video game Final Fantasy II used a minor portion of Swan Lake just before fighting the Lamia Boss. In the PlayStation Portable version the portion is longer.
The 1990 LucasArts adventure game Loom used a major portion of the Swan Lake suite for its audio track, as well as incorporating a major swan theme into the storyline. It otherwise bore no resemblance to the original ballet.
The 2008 Nintendo DS game Imagine Ballet Star contains a shortened version of Swan Lake. The main character, who is directly controlled by the player of the game, dances to three shortened musical pieces from Swan Lake. Two of the pieces are solos and the third piece is a pas de deux.
The 2009 SEGA video game Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games includes Swan Lake in its figure skating competition.
The 2016 Blizzard Entertainment game Overwatch contains two unlockable costumes for the character Widowmaker based on Odette and Odile.
Odette also appears as a playable heroine in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.

text: Dance[edit]

text: The Swedish dancer/choreographer Fredrik Rydman has produced a modern dance/street dance interpretation of the ballet entitled Swan Lake Reloaded. It depicts the "swans" as heroin addict prostitutes who are kept in place by Rothbart, their pimp. The production's music uses themes and melodies from Tchaikovsky's score and incorporates them into hip-hop and techno tunes.[29]

text: Literature[edit]

text:
Amiri & Odette (2009) is a verse retelling by Walter Dean Myers with illustrations by Javaka Steptoe.[30] Myers sets the story in the Swan Lake Projects of a large city. Amiri is a basketball-playing "Prince of the Night", a champion of the asphalt courts in the park. Odette belongs to Big Red, a dealer, a power on the streets.
The Black Swan (1999) is a fantasy novel written by Mercedes Lackey that re-imagines the original story and focuses heavily on Odile. Rothbart's daughter is a sorceress in her own right who comes to sympathise with Odette.
The Sorcerer's Daughter (2003) is a fantasy novel by Irina Izmailova, a retelling of the ballet's plot. The boyish and careless Siegfried consciously prefers the gentle, equally childlike Odile, while the stern and proud Odette is from the very beginning attracted to Rothbart (who later turns out to be the kingdom's rightful monarch in hiding).
Swan Lake (1989) is a children's novel written by Mark Helprin and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg, which re-creates the original story as a tale about political strife in an unnamed Eastern European country. In it, Odette becomes a princess hidden from birth by the puppetmaster (and eventually usurper) behind the throne, with the story being retold to her child.

text: Music[edit]

text:
Japanese instrumental rock group Takeshi Terauchi & Bunnys recorded this on their 1967 album, Let's Go Unmei.
German singer Jeanette Biedermann uses the Swan Lake melody structure for her 2001 single release "How It's Got To Be"!
Los Angeles group Sweetbox uses the main theme for the chorus of their song "Superstar" from the 2001 album "Classified".
Canadian metal band The Agonist has made an a cappella version of Act II's "Scène. Moderato", which is included in their second studio album, Lullabies for the Dormant Mind.
A reggae version of the Swan Lake ballet appears on a 2017 album.[31]

text: Musicals[edit]

text:
Odette – The Dark Side of Swan Lake, a musical written by Alexander S. Bermange and Murray Woodfield, was staged at the Bridewell Theatre, London in October 2007.
In Radio City Christmas Spectacular, The Rockettes do a short homage to Swan Lake during the performance of the "Twelve Days of Christmas (Rock and Dance Version)", with the line "Seven Swans A-Swimming".
Billy Elliot the Musical incorporates the most famous section of Swan Lake in a dance number, in which the main character dances while shadowed by his future, adult self.
The musical Anastasia includes a scene in which several of the main characters attend a performance of Swan Lake in Paris near the show's climax. The four characters sing about their inner conflicts and desires as Tchaikovsky's score blends into the musical's melodies, the dancers onstage representing both the ballet's characters and the thoughts of each singer in turn.

text: Television[edit]

text:
Princess Tutu (2002) is an anime television series whose heroine, Duck, wears a costume reminiscent of Odette's. She is a duck transformed by a writer into a girl (rather than the other way around), while her antagonist, Rue, dressed as Odile, is a girl who had been raised to believe she is a raven. Other characters include Mytho in the role of Siegfried, who is even referred to by this name towards the end of the second act, and Drosselmeyer playing in the role of Rothbart. The score of Swan Lake, along with that of The Nutcracker, is used throughout, as is, occasionally, the Petipa choreography, most notably in episode 13, where Duck dances the climactic Pas de Deux alone, complete with failed lifts and catches.
In the second season of the anime Kaleido Star, a circus adaptation of Swan Lake becomes one of the Kaleido Stage's most important and successful shows. Main character Sora Naegino plays Princess Odette, with characters Leon Oswald as Prince Siegfried and May Wong as Odile.
In episode 213 of The Muppet Show, Rudolf Nureyev performs "Swine Lake" with a giant ballerina pig.
Swan Lake was heard in two episodes of the Playhouse Disney series Little Einsteins: "Quincy and the Magic Instruments" and "The Blue Footed Boobey Bird Ballet".
In the Tiny Toon Adventures episode Loon Lake, Babs Bunny helps out Shirley the Loon after she was ridiculed by a group of snobbish swans in ballet class while preparing for a performance of Swan Lake.
In the Dexter's Laboratory episode Deedeemensional, Dexter, in order to deliver an important message to his future self, was forced to dance Swan Lake with Dee Dee and her future self.
In the animated children's show Wonder Pets, Linny, Tuck and Ming-Ming help encourage a baby swan to dance in his own way. The music of Swan Lake is used.

text:
A close arrangement of the waltz from Act I appears in episodes 16 and 23 of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, "Sonic Rainboom" and "The Cutie Mark Chronicles".
An episode of Saturday Night Live contains a "Bad Ballet" entitled Swan, which, according to Leonard Pince-Garnell (Dan Aykroyd), should not be confused with Swan Lake.
ABC's Once Upon a Time has a main character named Emma Swan, which is a play on the Swan Princess character and is the daughter of Prince Charming and Snow White. In Season 5, the character becomes the newest Dark One and gets the nickname the Dark Swan, also making her an adaptation of Odile, the Black Swan.
During August Putsch of 1991 in Russia a recording of Swan Lake was broadcast via all the radio and TV channels.

text: Virtual world adaptations[edit]

text: In 2014 the Little Princess Ballet Academy (LPBA) performed the entire Swan Lake in Second Life. The adaption follows the original, but some parts like the pas de deux were not possible to perform in Second Life and has been changed. All parts are played by individual avatars.[32]

text: Selected discography[edit]

text: Audio

text:
1954, Antal Doráti (conductor), Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra (first complete recording, late 1953, mastered originally in mono only; some mock-stereo issues released on LP)
1959, Ernest Ansermet (conductor), Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, taped in stereo Oct–Nov., 1958, abridged
1974, Anatole Fistoulari (conductor), Radio Filharmonisch Orkest with Ruggiero Ricci, violin
1976, André Previn (conductor), London Symphony Orchestra, with Ida Haendel, violin
1977, Richard Bonynge (conductor), National Philharmonic Orchestra, with Mincho Minchev, violin
1979, Seiji Ozawa (conductor), Boston Symphony Orchestra, with Joseph Silverstein, violin
1982, John Lanchbery (conductor), Philharmonia Orchestra
1988, Yevgeny Svetlanov (conductor), Russian State Symphony Orchestra
1990, Michael Tilson Thomas (conductor), London Symphony Orchestra
1992, Charles Dutoit (conductor), Montreal Symphony Orchestra
2006, Valery Gergiev (conductor), Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre
2013, Neeme Jarvi (conductor), Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, with James Ehnes, violin: a multi-channel SACD recording

text: Video

text:
1957, Yuri Fayer (conductor), Bolshoi Ballet, Nikolai Fadeyechev (Siegfried), Maya Plisetskaya (Odette / Odile)
1966, John Lanchbery (conductor), Vienna State Opera Ballet, Rudolf Nureyev (Siegfried), Margot Fonteyn (Odette / Odile)
1968, Viktor Fedotov (conductor), Kirov Ballet, John Markovsky (Siegfried), Yelena Yevteyeva (Odette / Odile)
1976, Algis Zhuraitis (conductor), Bolshoi Ballet, Alexander Bogatirev (Siegfried), Maya Plisetskaya (Odette / Odile)
1980, Ashley Lawrence (conductor), The Royal Ballet, Anthony Dowell (Siegfried), Natalia Makarova (Odette / Odile)
1984, Algis Zhuraitis (conductor), Bolshoi Ballet, Alexander Bogatirev (Siegfried), Natalia Bessmertnova (Odette / Odile)
1986, Viktor Fedotov (conductor), Kirov Ballet, Konstantin Zaklinsky (Siegfried), Galina Mezentseva (Odette / Odile)
1988, Graham Bond (conductor), English National Ballet, Peter Schaufuss (Siegfried), Evelyn Hart (Odette / Odile)
1989, Algis Zhuraitis (conductor), Bolshoi Ballet, Yuri Vasyuchenko (Siegfried), Alla Mikhalchenko (Odette / Odile)
1990, Viktor Fedotov (conductor), Kirov Ballet, Igor Zelensky (Siegfried), Yuliya Makhalina (Odette / Odile)[33]
1992, Alexander Sotnikov (conductor), Perm Theatre Ballet, Alexei Fadeyechev (Siegfried), Nina Ananiashvili (Odette / Odile)
1992, Jonathan Darlington (conductor), Paris Opera Ballet, Patrick Dupond (Siegfried), Marie-Claude Pietragalla (Odette / Odile)
1996, Michel Quéval (conductor), Royal Swedish Ballet, Anders Nordström (Siegfried), Nathalie Nordquist (Odette / Odile)
1998, Daniel Barenboim (conductor), Berlin State Ballet, Oliver Matz (Siegfried), Steffi Scherzer (Odette / Odile)
2004, James Tuggle (conductor), La Scala Theatre Ballet, Roberto Bolle (Siegfried), Svetlana Zakharova (Odette / Odile)[34]
2005, Ormsby Wilkins (conductor), American Ballet Theatre, Angel Corella (Siegfried), Gillian Murphy (Odette / Odile)
2006, Vello Pähn (conductor), Paris Opera Ballet, Jose Martinez (Siegfried), Agnes Letestu (Odette / Odile)
2007, Valery Gergiev (conductor), Mariinsky Ballet, Danila Korsuntsev (Siegfried), Ulyana Lopatkina (Odette / Odile)
2009, Valeriy Ovsyanikov (conductor), The Royal Ballet, Thiago Soares (Siegfried), Marianela Núñez (Odette / Odile)
2009, Vladimir Fedoseyev (conductor), Zurich Ballet, Stanislav Jermakov (Siegfried), Polina Semionova (Odette / Odile)
2014, Alexander Ingram (conductor), Vienna State Ballet, Vladimir Shishov (Siegfried), Olga Esina (Odette / Odile)
2015, Pavel Sorokin (conductor), Bolshoi Ballet, Denis Rodkin (Siegfried), Svetlana Zakharova (Odette / Odile)

text: Trivia[edit]

text:
In 1968, a new rose cultivar with white petals was named  'Schwanensee'  (ru), in honour of the ballet.
In the late Soviet Union, this ballet was usually shown on TV instead of planned entertainment programs as a part of mourning arrangements in the cases of general secretary death. In 1991, Swan Lake became one of the symbols of the August Putsch for many people in the post-Soviet states, because during this event all USSR TV channels broadcast the ballet repeatedly for three days in a row.

text: Notes[edit]

text: Jump up ^  Such as The White Duck collected by Alexander Afanasyev in Narodnye russkie skazki.

tag: ol


document_title: Aerosol paint

question_text: why is there a ball inside spray paint

question_tokens: why is there a ball inside spray paint

text: Aerosol paint

text: History[edit]

text: This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2012)

text: In 1949, Edward Seymour, of Sycamore, IL[1] , added paint to existing spray can technology at his wife Bonnie's suggestion. It was initially designed to demonstrate an aluminum paint he developed.[2][3]

text: Most aerosol paints also have a metal, glass or plastic ball called a pea inside of the can, which is used to mix the paint when the can is shaken.

text: Uses[edit]

text: Commercial, industrial and consumer uses[edit]

text: Acrylic-based craft primers and vinyl dye can be used on plastics like models or miniatures.

text: Most brands include a wide variety of paints, including primers, heat and traffic resistant enamels, gloss and matte finishes, metallic colors, and textured paints for home decor.

text: Aerosol paint is useful for quick, semi-permanent marking on construction and surveying sites. Inverted cans for street, utility or field marking can be used upside-down with an extension pole. APWA (American Public Works Association) has standardized colors for utility and excavation markings. Hiking trails can also be marked with aerosol paint trail blazes.

text: Small to medium-sized repairs to automobile bodywork can be completed by enthusiasts at home using aerosol paint, though to paint an entire vehicle in this manner would be difficult and expensive. The main disadvantages, compared to a professional spray gun, include the limited quality provided by the built-in nozzle and the lack of infrared baking after applying the paint, which indicates that the paint could take several months to obtain its final hardness.

text: Plasti Dip is a brand of aerosol paint that hardens into a rubber-like layer that peels off relatively easily. It can be used on almost any hard, clean surface without prior sanding. Plasti Dip is sometimes used to decorate or protect cars, because it can be sprayed over the existing paint and removed anytime.[citation needed]

text: Technique[edit]

text: For a good finish it is essential to prepare the surface well, sanding to provide a key and thoroughly degreasing with naptha (panel wipe). Areas not to be painted should be masked, although for repair work it is important to avoid spraying a full coat right up to the masking tape, which will leave a hard line; it is better to fade the new paint into the existing paint, especially if the color is difficult to match. The flow of paint should be started or stopped on the masked area rather than over the area intended to be painted, as aerosols often discharge "blobs" of paint under these conditions. Coats should be built up lightly enough to avoid runs, but a "dry" finish must be avoided by spraying too thinly or from too far away. The optimum distance between the can and workpiece is around one foot (30 cm). Most automotive paints will require a clear lacquer after the color coat, normally 24 hours later. The color coat should be well matted down with very fine abrasive paper before applying the lacquer.

text: There are also a variety of tools to assist in the dispersal of paints including spray paint handles and attachments to equalize the pressure and secure hand grip. Other customized technology such as sprayprinter can be attached to aerosol cans to partially automate the process of spray painting and allow for images to be created in a manner similar to printing.[4]

text: Graffiti and street art uses[edit]

text: Speed, portability, and permanence also make aerosol paint a common graffiti medium. In the late 1970s, street graffiti writers' signatures and murals became more elaborate and a unique style developed as a factor of the aerosol medium and the speed required for illicit work. Many now recognize graffiti and street art as a unique art form and specifically manufactured aerosol paints are made for the graffiti artist.

text: Graffiti artist paints tend to be more expensive, but have a wider selection of rich colors, are thicker and less likely to drip. They are produced in standard high pressure cans for fast, thick coverage and lower pressure cans for more control and flexibility. Most art brand paints have two or three mixing peas in a can. A wide array of actuators, or caps are available, from standard "skinny" caps to wider "fat" caps, as well as caps that control the softness or crispness of the spray. Calligraphy caps create fan spray instead of the standard round.

text:
The first graffiti shop in Russia was opened in 1992 in Tver City.

Street art style can. A) Color identity "donut"; B) Valve cup; C) Gasket for spray valve; D) Peas; E) Actuator.

text: Stencils[edit]

text: When aerosol paint is used, care must be taken to cover or mask areas where paint is not wanted. A stencil can be used to protect a surface except the specific shape that is to be painted. Stencils can be purchased as movable letters, ordered as professionally cut logos, or hand-cut by artists.

text: Stencils can be used multiple times for recognition and consistency. Official stencils can be used to quickly and clearly label objects, vehicles or locations. Graffiti writers can use stencils to quickly mark in busy places or leave recognizable tags over a large area. Stencil artists often use multiple colors, or create elaborate stencils that are works of art in themselves.

text: Illicit use[edit]

text: Graffiti[edit]

text: Unauthorized graffiti is considered to be vandalism in most jurisdictions mainly because the work or display is done without permission of the property owner. The term 'aerosol art' is commonly used for displaying art form 'with' permission of the property owner. The UK and many cities in the United States prohibit the sale of aerosol paint to minors as part of graffiti abatement programs.[5] While major industrial and consumer aerosol paint companies like Krylon and Rust-Oleum actively participate in anti-graffiti programs, art-brand companies are often supportive of writers and graffiti culture, though most do not endorse illegal writing.

text: Inhalant[edit]

text: Like many household chemicals and aerosols, aerosol paint vapor and propellant can be misused as an inhalant.[6]