Anyone in the Soviet Union knew that if Swan Lake was on TV unscheduled, it meant that something extraordinary had happened in the country.
It was on Soviet television when the Secretaries General died, and in 1991 it accompanied the events of the August coup d'état, taking over all TV channels.
The authorities wanted to shield citizens from information in order to prevent mass unrest. But something had to be shown instead of news. Cheerful entertaining programs would have been inappropriate during the mourning period. But the ballet and its solemn music could not have been more appropriate.
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