Swan Lake is a ballet without which it is impossible to imagine contemporary classical theatre, and in terms of its psychology, it is bang up-to-date. The classical qualities of Swan Lake lie in the precise structural forms, in the strict classical school, and in the traditional split of classical and character dance. Its psychology lies in the mysterious theme of duplicity and the well-developed theme of fate and destiny.

Nevertheless, when it appeared in 1877 there was no instant acclaim for Swan Lake. The production staged at the Bolshoi Theatre by Vaclav Reisinger was “one of many”, extremely traditional, and in no way innovative. The famous “Russian soul” was absent in it, and neither was there the eternal symbol of Russian spirituality in the image of the Swan. And Tchaikovsky’s music, in turns mournfully aching, festively triumphant, and menacingly fatal, was not regarded as a masterpiece for a long time to come. Initially, Pyotr Ilyich’s opus was received in a very restrained manner: people felt that the ballet was “poor in melodies” and the music “the weakest point of all.” The spirituality in the first production was hard to find: much was hidden by the corps de ballet which rigorously waved their cardboard wings at the premiere – today one could only imagine such a thing in a parody of the ballet! And only the name of Polina Karpakova, who went down in history as the first performer of the role of Odette (the name of the performer of the role of Odile was covered by three stars on the playbill), tells us that the history of the ballet did not begin in St Petersburg.

But it was in the city on the River Neva that the White Swan “built its nest.” Following a concert in memory of the composer at the Mariinsky Theatre in 1895, when Lev Ivanov showed a “swan scene” – gentle, tender, and touching – Marius Petipa, the director of the ballet company in St. Petersburg, finally resolved to stage Tchaikovsky’s debut in the dance genre at the Imperial theatre. The premiere took place one year later, in 1896. The conductor and composer Riccardo Drigo undertook a very tactical musical revision of the score – it is his version of the music for Swan Lake that most choreographers follow. The Frenchman Petipa and the Russian Ivanov (the choreographers), the Italian Drigo (conductor and author of this version of the music), and Pierina Legnani as Odette-Odile – these are the creators of the famous myth of Swan Lake.

Dancer and choreographer Konstantin Sergeyev, one of the finest Siegfrieds of all time anywhere, true to classical dance, combined the very best that had been created for Swan Lake in the course of half a century and created the 1950 version of this ballet. Today, too, this production is considered the epitome of classical dance imagery.

Although Swan Lake is presented in many different versions, most ballet companies base their stagings both choreographically and musically on the 1895 revival of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, first staged for the Imperial Ballet on 15 January 1895, at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. For this revival, Tchaikovsky's score was revised by the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatre's chief conductor and composer Riccardo Drigo.

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.

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.

The revival of Swan Lake was planned for Pierina 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.

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. Aside from the revision of the libretto the ballet was changed from four acts to three—with act 2 becoming act 1, scene 2.

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.