Danse de la Chèvre
Encyclopedia
Dance of the Goat is a piece for solo flute
by Arthur Honegger
, written in 1921 as incidental music for dancer Lysana of Sacha Derek's play La mauvaise pensée. At the start of the piece, there is a slow dreamlike introduction consisting of tritone
phrases. This soon unwinds into the “goat-like” theme in a chromatically altered F major
in 9/8 that skips along providing the clear picture of a dancing goat
. Following this theme is a more melodic theme or idea that gives off a more calming feeling. The goat theme and the calm theme both reoccur once again, and at the end of the piece the slow dreamlike idea returns and closes off the piece with a soft and quiet harmonic C for resolution. It is approximately three and a half minutes long. (The piece is approximately ABRSM grade eight standard and can also be found on the ABRSM flute diploma syllabus.)
The original manuscript of this piece has been lost. The editions that are out now were derived from a partial transcript found in Honegger's transcriptionist's works. The piece has been worked on by historians to be as accurate as possible. the piece is meant to illustrate a goat dancing on a grassy hill after the winter snows have melted away.
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
by Arthur Honegger
Arthur Honegger
Arthur Honegger was a Swiss composer, who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. He was a member of Les six. His most frequently performed work is probably the orchestral work Pacific 231, which is interpreted as imitating the sound of a steam locomotive.-Biography:Born...
, written in 1921 as incidental music for dancer Lysana of Sacha Derek's play La mauvaise pensée. At the start of the piece, there is a slow dreamlike introduction consisting of tritone
Tritone
In classical music from Western culture, the tritone |tone]]) is traditionally defined as a musical interval composed of three whole tones. In a chromatic scale, each whole tone can be further divided into two semitones...
phrases. This soon unwinds into the “goat-like” theme in a chromatically altered F major
F major
F major is a musical major scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat . It is by far the oldest key signature with an accidental, predating the others by hundreds of years...
in 9/8 that skips along providing the clear picture of a dancing goat
Goat
The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
. Following this theme is a more melodic theme or idea that gives off a more calming feeling. The goat theme and the calm theme both reoccur once again, and at the end of the piece the slow dreamlike idea returns and closes off the piece with a soft and quiet harmonic C for resolution. It is approximately three and a half minutes long. (The piece is approximately ABRSM grade eight standard and can also be found on the ABRSM flute diploma syllabus.)
The original manuscript of this piece has been lost. The editions that are out now were derived from a partial transcript found in Honegger's transcriptionist's works. The piece has been worked on by historians to be as accurate as possible. the piece is meant to illustrate a goat dancing on a grassy hill after the winter snows have melted away.