The author of the new libretto is Pawel Chynowski. The production contains only three acts plus a prologue and epilogue. It tells the story of the love affair between the future Russian Tsar Nicholas II and ballet dancer Mathilde Kschessinska.
Mathilde Kschessinska was Polish, born in St. Petersburg on August 31, 1872, and hit the stage there. She was the second St. Petersburg dancer after Pierina Legnani to receive the title prima ballerina assoluta. She met the future Tsar of Russia when she was 17. The couple dated, but in 1894, the Tsar officially became engaged to Alexandra Feodorovna (also known as the Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine)
In the Polish version, it is Kschessinska who plays the role of the black swan. The story ends happily when the tsarevich is reunited with his beloved Alix.
