Le Cygne (classical composition)
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Le Cygne, or The Swan, is the thirteenth movement of The Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns. This piece features a solo cello in tenor clef and an accompaniment piano.
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[edit] Music
The piece is in 6/4 time, with a key signature of G major. It makes use of legato and slurring. This piece is best played using much vibrato.
There are some arrangements of this piece for cello in treble clef and bass clef.
[edit] Uses in choreography
Le Cygne is often known as The Dying Swan, after a poem by Tennyson. Inspired by swans that she had seen in public parks, Anna Pavlova worked with choreographer Michel Fokine, who had read the poem, to create the famous 1905 solo ballet dance which is now closely associated with this music. According to tradition, the swan in Pavlova's dance is badly injured and dying. However, Maya Plisetskaya re-interpreted the swan simply as elderly and stubbornly resisting the effects of aging; much like herself (she performed The Swan at a gala on her 70th birthday). The piece has also been widely used in figure skating. Sonja Henie used it, as did Oksana Baiul. Johnny Weir used this piece, choreographed by Tatiana Tarasova and strongly reminiscent of Pavlova, as the music for his figure skating Olympic-season short program. Consistent with his attraction to Russian romanticism, he chose to portray the swan as dying of a broken heart.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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