Cover art for Fullscore publishing editions - 'Nocturne' by Gino Parin

'Nocturne' by Gino Parin

Since founding Fullscore Publishing in 2020, relevant and interesting artwork has enlivened our publication covers. Having now published over 80 individual piano, choral, Christmas and other pieces there is an interesting collection of paintings that have covered many themes, from Christmas scenes to 19^th-century musical images and ‘in praise of the piano’

[A future blog piece will explain the backgrounds for some of the paintings that have been used.]

Most recently, our first print-only publication featured the original work of illustrator, author and artist Alice Stevenson (pictured below) [alicestevenson.com]. During the pandemic lockdown Fullscore started collecting some of her miniature watercolours and stored them away for the day when we started collating our print-only publications. Alice very graciously gave us permission to use her watercolours, all of which feature a strong mix of colours (reflecting the diverse group of composers in each publication), congruity (endorsing the thematic aim of each collection) and eye-catching subjects (mirroring the unusual content of our books).

Alice Stevenson

The work of a female artist was important to us, as it reflects our aim to include women composers in each collection, whenever appropriate. Here’s the original watercolour that graces the cover of Songs without Words, Book 1 (available from Amazon, globally: http://bit.ly/4cTYzyF); this collection features 6 women composers out of the 16 included.

The series of Songs without Words will feature an all-women composer collection (watch out for Book 4) and Fullscore have been on the lookout for a suitable cover painting. During a recent trip to Trieste in Italy we visited the impressive Revoltella Museum/Modern Art gallery, where we came across a beautiful oil painting by Gino Parin (1876-1944). Entitled Nocturne, painted in 1920, the image of a lady playing an upright piano immediately caught our eye, as it is colourful and ideally suited to our subject matter. Nocturne (below) is a variant of the Lady at the Spinet, created in 1970.

Art historian Emanuela Di Vivona writes on Parin’s style:‘His works … pay particular attention to the introspective rendering of the characters depicted, studying the pose and compositional schemes; and the play of light he creates with quick, abbreviated brush strokes. He combines analytical investigation with speed of execution. Another fundamental component in his artistic research is the luministic and chromatic investigation that he modulates from Veneto, Secessionist and Impressionist painting.’ [berardiarte.com]

The artist Gino Parin - Federico Guglielmo Jehuda Pollack, to give him his full name - was born in Trieste in 1876 (when it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire). He was of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry, a Catholic convert in his early 20s and, latterly, a Swiss citizen. His parents owned a family shipping company, but he chose the world of art, studying in Venice and Munich. After marrying an American artist and musician, Ella Auler, he emigrated to the United States. On returning to Trieste, he began painting portraits and exhibited in several editions of the Venice Biennale, as well as Vienna, Rome and Turin between the wars, when fascism was emerging in Italy. The racial laws in Germany prevented him from exhibiting there after 1938; Nazi Germany occupied Trieste in 1944 and he was detained there in 1944; during his deportation by train (in May) to the concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen he became seriously ill and died on 9 June 1944, not long after arriving.  

Fullscore Publishing founder and editor, Nigel Edmund-Jones, writes: ‘I was immediately struck by this painting, as it seemed to be the perfect subject and rendition for cover art in the Songs without Words series. To me, it speaks perfectly of sitting at the piano with sheet music, not just for studied attention but also for the sheer joy of playing. Notably, the piano player is a woman and the image is as colourful as the music we will include in all Fullscore Publishing collections. On closer inspection I noticed that the artist had died in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where my own father had been part of the post-liberation and relief efforts, organising logistics for the displaced persons camp and repatriation in 1945. A circle was completed.’

Songs without Words, Book 4 - Women Composers will be published in early 2027 and available globally from Amazon. Songs without Words, Book 1, a collection of 16 unusually lyrical pieces for solo piano (ideal for intermediate adult returners), may be purchased here.

Recent piano edition from Fullscore Publishing: Nocturne by Ethel Smyth.

Click here for our free sheet music download:

Full biography of artist Gino Parin: berardiarte.com/artists/gino-parin/

Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gino_Parin