Swan Lake, swan theme

Piotr Ilitch Tchaïkovski · Level 3 (Late beginner) · Romantic · Piano

The oboe theme from the Act II Scene (No. 10) of the ballet Swan Lake (1876), in B minor: first played softly, then again over a livelier accompaniment. It opens Tod Browning’s Dracula (1931), and the score of Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky, 2010) is built entirely on it.

▶ Play this piece with the interactive score

How to practise it

• Listen first: the site plays it while the score scrolls.
• Wait mode: the score waits for you at every note, at your own pace.
• Tempo challenge: play in time, with a score and a map of the bars you got right.
• Think of the oboe: a sustained, expressive sound that does not die away on the half notes. The dotted quarter–eighth rhythm (bars 2, 3, 6…) stays supple, without shortening the dotted quarter. Bars 11 and 15: A♯, the leading note of B minor, pulls up to B; let it be felt.

More pieces by Piotr Ilitch Tchaïkovski

• Swan Lake: Neapolitan Dance (piano arrangement)
• The Seasons: January (O 37,1)
• The Seasons: February (Carnival)
• The Seasons: August (Harvest)
• March of the Wooden Soldiers (Op. 39 No. 5)
• Morning Prayer (Op. 39 No. 1)
• Old French Song (Op. 39 No. 16)
• Winter Morning (Album for the Young Op. 39 No. 2)

Source : Arrangement Note after Note d’après le thème du hautbois de l’acte II, n° 10 (transcription du domaine public, Wikimedia Commons) · Public Domain