The bird named in the title of Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake is the swan.
Swan Lake is a ballet composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Its story centers on Odette, a princess transformed into a swan by a curse, and Prince Siegfried, who falls in love with her. The title therefore refers directly to the swans who dominate the ballet’s plot and visual imagery.
The first production premiered at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow on 4 March 1877, although it was not initially a major success. The version most ballet audiences know grew from a celebrated revival staged in St. Petersburg in 1895, after Tchaikovsky’s death. Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov shaped the choreography, while Riccardo Drigo revised the score.
The title can cause confusion because the ballet also features the black-swan character Odile, often danced by the same ballerina who performs Odette. “Swan Lake” still refers to the ballet as a whole, not specifically to either the white or black swan.