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The librettists:

Vladimir Petrovich Begichev was the intendant of the Moscow Imperial Theaters. He was the stepfather of his wife's (Maria Shilovskaya) children, who studied music with Tchaikovsky. The most likely single source for his story-line for Swan Lake was Johann Musaeus' 18th-century story, "The Stolen Veil" from his Popular German Legends (Die Volksmaerchen der Deutschen).

Vassily Fedorovich Geltser was the regisseur of the Moscow Imperial Ballet. He is credited by Tchaikovsky's brother, Modeste, as having been co-author of the ballet's libretto, but other authorities consider him to have been of minor, indeed no, influence in the composition of the story. His daughter Elizaveta danced the first Swan Queen in the United States in 1911.