Synopsis
One of the best-loved ballets of all time is adapted by illustrator Lisbeth Zwerger for this glorious picture book. Basing her version on Tchaikovsky's original 1877 ballet, which had a happy ending unlike the later, more well-known 1893 version, Zwerger tells the haunting story of an enchanted swan princess with lyrical grace and beauty. Full-color illustrations.
Publishers Weekly
Drawing from the original 1877 ballet by Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky, which has a happy ending (unlike the more familiar, tragic 1893 version), Lisbeth Zwerger retells and illustrates Swan Lake, trans. by Marianne Martens. Her signature gauzy watercolors, framed in white borders, follow the prince from the eve of the prince's 18th birthday (Zwerger foreshadows events as one couple dances in the distance, while the solo prince links arms with a chain of guests) through the transformation of the Swan Queen and her friends, as they change from their human forms back into birds. These metamorphoses take on an eerily sensual quality; Zwerger creates the sensation that readers are intruders on a private moment.