Act 1:
Prince Siegfried’s birthday celebrations are underway. Wolfgang, the Prince’s tutor, introduces the guests. The Queen, Siegfried’s mother, enters accompanied by knights, and exhorts the guests to rejoice with her, for the Prince is soon to be married and is to choose his betrothed from the girls she herself has invited to the ball. Pas de trois.

Pensively, the Prince dreams of an ideal love. The Tutor tries to bring him down to earth and remind him of the duties that await him. Siegfried, however, seems deaf to reason. His spirit seeks to escape the reality that surrounds him and to take refuge in dreams.

Act 2:
The Prince, absorbed in thought, sees a white swan-woman appear, her head adorned with a crown. Bewitched, Siegfried approaches her. The swan confides to him that she is a princess named Odette, and that she has been turned into a swan along with other young women who, like her, are the victims of a spell cast by the wicked Rothbart. The spell can only be broken if a man will swear eternal love to her. Struck by this confession, Siegfried promises to rescue Odette. Danse des cygnes.

Despite the intervention of an enormous bird of prey (Rothbart) disturbing their sweet encounters, Odette and Siegfried exchange a pledge of love. Odette’s girl-swans shield the two lovers with their bodies against attack from Rothbart. Siegfried invites Odette to the ball which his mother, the Queen, is giving the following day and during which he must choose his bride. He insists that Odette attend the ball because he wishes to ask for her hand in marriage. Odette replies that this will be impossible, since she must remain a swan. Siegfried then declares that he will not marry and swears eternal love to Odette. As dawn breaks the apparitions fade away. The Prince is perturbed.

Act 3:
At the palace, the master of ceremonies starts the celebrations. The Queen accompanies Prince Siegfried, who seems however to care about nothing, as if estranged from the world around him. After the divertissement of folk dances from different countries, the young girls aspiring to marry the Prince are presented to him.

Danse hongroise - Danse espagnole - Danse napolitaine - Mazurka.

However, he rejects them all, until a mysterious creature looking incredibly like Odette enters the palace... As if rapt and subdued by this image, Siegfried only has eyes for this creature in whom he believes he has glimpsed his beloved white swan. But the swan that resembles her so closely is none other than Odile, Rothbart’s daughter, transformed by her father’s magic into Odette’s double. And the Prince, blinded by love, asks for her hand in marriage. Rothbart triumphs. Siegfried is about to perjure himself. Odette can no longer be saved.

Act 4:
Siegfried, now increasingly aware of his error, is in deep despair. The vision of the lake returns. Danse des cygnes.

At the centre among the swans, Odette weeps her lost love. All hope is extinguished, even though Siegfried’s betrayal has been involuntary. Consumed with remorse, the Prince beseeches Odette to forgive him, but too late. Rothbart removes Odette from the Prince for ever. His dream ends.