Les Moutons des Panurge (“The Sheep of Panurge”) is based on the fourth book of Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais. The story goes that Pantagruel is traveling by ship with Panurge when their boat meets with a merchant ship carrying sheep. The merchants make fun of Panurge, but Panurge is able to buy one sheep from them. Panurge proceeds to throw his sheep into the ocean, and all of the other sheep follow it. The phrase “sheep of Panurge” has come to mean someone who follows the lead of another blindly.

Written “for any number of musicians playing melody instruments, plus any number of nonmusicians playing anything,” the work contains 65 notes played in a cumulative sequence. When all the notes have been played, the complete melody is repeated. Then the players continue, dropping one note from the beginning with each repetition, until only one note remains. That final note is held until all the players have reached it, at which point all begin improvising.