Edgar Degas
Degas's only showing of sculpture during his life took place in 1881 when he exhibited "The Little Dancer of Fourteen Years". A nearly life-size wax figure with real hair and dressed in a cloth tutu, it provoked a strong reaction from critics, most of whom found its realism extraordinary but denounced the dancer as ugly. In a review, J.-K. Huysmans wrote: "The terrible reality of this statuette evidently produces uneasiness in the spectators; all their notions about sculpture, about those cold inanimate whitenesses ... are here overturned. The fact is that with his first attempt Monsieur Degas has revolutionized the traditions of sculpture as he has long since shaken the conventions of painting."
Danse de la chèvre
Danse de la chèvre (French for 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 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.)