Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is perhaps better known for his ballet music than his operatic works. The premier of Swan Lake was not well received. Swan Lake was the first ballet set to the score of a symphonic composer. The structure and emotional content of the composer’s music was too advanced for the audience. Even the choreographer considered Tchaikovsky’s music unsuitable for ballet. The work turned out to be a standard repertoire for every major ballet company today. 俄國作曲家柴可夫斯基譜有不少歌劇作品，但今天最受人歡迎的還是他的芭蕾舞劇。天鵝湖的首演慘淡收場，作者創新地為把管弦樂元素注入芭蕾舞音樂，音樂的結構和感情比較複雜和前衛，連編舞家都認為不適合作為舞曲，可是今天天鵝湖已成為所有芭蕾舞團的必備曲目。