Mouvements (Suite of 5)

“Mouvements”, a series of five original lithographs published in 1990, is available both in a suite or separate, individual pieces. The five lithographs—“Andante,” “Scherzo,” “Largo,” “Allegro,” and “Adagio”—are named for different tempos, styles and compositions of classical music. Musical compositions that take on a “walking pace” are known as Andante, while those considered as Allegro or Scherzo connote a joyous and playful tempo. The final two movements, Adagio (translated to “at ease”) and Largo, are definitively slower and stately in their beats per minute. In Boulanger’s representation, she combines imagery of musicians and dancers performing one of the aforementioned classical movements. The vibrant colors of “Allergro” and “Scherzo” as the ballerinas leap across a light background conveys the lively and gleeful feeling of their musical counterparts, while the bowed heads and dark-colored backgrounds of “Adagio” and “Largo” emphasize the somber emotions evoked in songs of the same nature. All five pieces seem to act as an homage to the complexities and unique characteristics of the symphonies and musical works that inspired them.