Inspiration talk:

(So, the solution, some inside look and Swan Lake recommendations!)

Flo: Wow, this was an amazing story, Meg! Can you tell our readers now the hints?

Meg: First, Marthe wears a wreath made of DAISIES (like my nickname, Daisy). Later, she also gets two kids, who are getting names as referencing nicknames (Dette/Ziggy for Odette/Siegfried, like Daisy and Demo). And the mask is also a reference to the "Masked wedding", a short story I wrote for the Pickwick papers (although the 1994 movie has Jo writing it!). It's also possible that Marthe and Benno look a bit like John and me, but I was actually also thinking of Jane Austen's Emma (the movie version with Kate Beckinsale).

Flo: Brilliant! But I guess you did watch also some Swan Lake ballets for the story.

Meg: Yes, I did. The peasant scenes and even the main peasant girl in act 1 are inspired by the beautiful version by Marcia Haydee. watch?v=eEUd5yAHEBc&t=531s

Its Act 1 is gorgeous! The peasants are often removed, but I think it's an important part of this romantic ballet. Tchaikovsky might have thought of his family's estate in Kamenka as escapism from the city life…The peasants represent freedom, and I think it's important for Swan Lake. I interpret also the ending in this way as being united in the lake, but as a peaceful and united choice (and not as drowning/suicide). This is inspired by the Swan lake ballet movie by Natalia Makarova, starring Hart and Schaufuß; and inspired by a production by Aaron Watkin for the Semperoper in Dresden [This used to be my favorite version, but when he changed the plot and the production, I was super unhappy….].

Amy: My hints in "A wizard's heart" [The previous story] are the blonde hair color and a brush for painting. It was inspired by the La Scala version with Bolle and Zakharova (choreography by Burmeister), which is in my opinion the most beautiful Swan Lake. watch?v=6LKyWPmtX7Y&t=5s

I do also recommend the very pretty and bright Swan Lake movie (1953), running time: 30 minutes, with Galina Ulanova. watch?v=vXS9Rw0fIOU

Jo: My story is also inspired by a ballet, by the production with Makarova and Dowell, though less from the dances than the tragedy. In fact, Derek Rencher (Rotbart) is the most impressive and intriguing villain I can imagine for a ballet and he inspired my favorite character and kind of tragic anti-hero in "The rose, the dragon and the swan." I hope you'll like him, once my story is released here! watch?v=NGCdo4XTipo&t=6255s (for example, 1:43:19 up)

Laurie: Actually, Star Lake is not farfetched because I did see a Russian ballet from St. Petersburg with my grandfather and Rotbart did look like Darth Vader. And well, a white-dressed princess abducted by this mysterious dark knight, then as in the libretto, a knight destroyed his wife ( Anakin/Vader and Padme Amidala)…so, but the story has another interpretation I won't tell by now (:

Beth: Honestly, apart from the music, it's a scary ballet with a tragic suicidal or violent ending. The only version I was not afraid of and which was inspiration for "Little, valiant, Black Swan" is "My first Swan Lake". It's wonderful. My other inspiration is coming from Russian operas and folklore, but later more about that….

Flo: My version is contemporary and "Swan Fake" – my "switch"-story" - might sound familiar to some recent comedies, but it will feature also a lot of ballet characters, so one could learn all about ballet stories (: But I'm afraid, this will take more space and time…

Author:

First of all, you should know that this Swan Lake is kind of a final version of at least spending 5 years with research and retelling again and again, ripping and deleting.

My biggest problem was always that Swan Lake has no happy ending. I mean, really not one, not these classical versions with afterlife. No, just drowning and then a lake of swans in the ending. I read this in a ballet book and I didn't want to believe that.
I went on research and digged in fairy tales and Tchaikovsky's operas, listened again and again to the music, would use Google translate for Russian homepages and so I found finally this intriguing idea. This story is a little bit different than your usual picture of Swan Lake, but its based on the following points:
1) In Swan Lake, the famous Black Swan pas de deux in act 3, is originally composed as a pas de deux between Siegfried and a peasant girl in Act 1. So, it's actually this girl who is probably in love with the prince. She has no name in the original libretto, but I suppose she had a bigger part in an original story, but was removed. In many ballets, there is a rival for the main ballerina, such as Effi for La Slyphide or Bathilde for Giselle. In Marcia Haydee's Swan Lake, there is also the part of the peasant girl restored - and I really love this dress and her part! This became the original idea for Marthe in my story.
2) Odile and Rotbart don't have a big story part in the original libretto. I did also wonder whether Odile is in fact the disguised Odette. I mean, the same ballerina dances the two parts and the tricky word in the story is "test". And you probably know those love tests, in some ballets just like Coppelia, or in Mozart's operas. Of course, it could be also a stepmother's imposter, such as in Grimm fairy tales. But just read on!
3) Marthe is in my version also on the ball. Her story could be similar to Cinderella - and that's also Odetta's with her stepmother, and also the prince's ball and brides...Did I mention that Tchaikovsky wanted to compose a Cinderella ballet, but he didn't get the request? The use of the Neapoiltan dance for Marthe and Benno is not random. In many productions, Benno is dancing the Neapolitan dance, and sometimes also with the Neapolitan princess.
4) Nobody has ever mentioned La Peri, a ballet by Burgmüller and story by Theophile Gautier. Go, and read the story on the Wikisource (have it translated by Google). There, a prince don't want to choose from the girls he have, but is in search for eternal love, meets a fairy queen with a crown at a lake, promises her true love, she tests him in the disguise of the human slave Leila (and there is another rival), he is to die in the end, but he's reunited in heaven with La Peri. (just to mention, this ballet used to be very famous...)
5) Odile's dress is according "Bolshoi confidential" a golden tutu (and not a black swan). The message is better, I think: Because if Rotbart and Odile are black and gloomy, there is not the same warning!
The mask is coming from Wheeldon's Cinderella and this production has even some similarities to Swan Lake (and oh, of course also the prince's friend as match for the stepsister (: )
6) And the ending...In my humble opinion it's the influence by Bizet's Carmen. Tchaikovsky did watch the opera before composing Swan Lake and was completely overwhelmed by "the best opera" in his opinion. So, go and compare the fourth act of Carmen with Swan Lake act 4. The lover actually is causing his girl's death and he can't be without her. As the libretto makes no sense why Odette would die from the loss of her crown, I tried to solve it on my way to keep the tragical background and find the satisfying solution.
7) And because the most mentioned fairy tales as inspiration for Swan lake do have a happy ending (The white duck, Tsar Saltan, even Melusine and Undine used to have happy endings around this time and a ballet without a happy ending was...well, not existing around this time- Even Giselle has kind of hope in the end, also La Sylphide features Effi's and Gurn's wedding) ! - and I read the possible inpsiration "Stolen veil" by Musäus - it has a happy ending! - this Swan Lake has a happy ending and I believe it with all my heart (:

So, you know how Swan Lake was shaped and I hope my ideas are kind of persuading (:
I'm also happy about comments (: