Background
He was born in Dublin into a musical family, and received his early education there, in particular with the immigrant Tommaso Giordani.
( An influential early Romantic composer for piano, John ...)
An influential early Romantic composer for piano, John Field (1782-1837) redefined the term "Nocturne." Formerly used to designate music to be performed at night, nocturnes came to be regarded as music that is nocturnal in mood. Field's dreamy, poetic style contrasted sharply with that of his contemporaries, who favored exhibitions of clarity and velocity, and his works exerted a lasting effect on such later composers as Chopin, Liszt, and Schumann. This new collection, compiled and edited by piano scholar Joseph Smith, brings together the most popular and often performed of Field's Nocturnes, along with a selection of his most important solo piano works. The March Trimophale en Honneur des Victories du Général Wittgenstein commemorates Russia's 1812 victory over France. A native of Ireland, Field spent most of his life and career in Russia, where he pioneered the musical use of Russian folk motifs. In addition to a half-dozen of the composers other popular nocturnes, this compilation features The Troubadour, a fine but often overlooked work, and the crowd-pleasing rondo Twelve OClock.
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(A student of Clementi, the Irish composer John Field was ...)
A student of Clementi, the Irish composer John Field was especially known for his nocturnes and the influence of these musical mood pieces on the works of Frederic Chopin. Titles: Nocturne in E-flat Major * Nocturne in C Minor * Nocturne in A-flat Major * Nocturne in A Major * Nocturne in B-flat Major * Nocturne in F Major * Nocturne in A Major * Nocturne in E-flat Major * Nocturne in E Minor * Nocturne in E Major * Nocturne in E-flat Major * Nocturne in E Major * Nocturne in C Major * Nocturne in G Major * Nocturne in F Major * Nocturne in C Major * Nocturne in C Major * Nocturne in F Major.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0757909205/?tag=2022091-20
He was born in Dublin into a musical family, and received his early education there, in particular with the immigrant Tommaso Giordani.
The boy received musical education.
When a few years later the family settled in London, Field became the favourite pupil of the celebrated Clementi, whom he accompanied to Paris, and later, in 1802, on his great concert tour through France, Germany and Russia.
In 1802 Clementi took him to France, Germany, and Russia, where he settled in St. Petersburg in 1803, becoming teacher and touring Europe as virtuoso pianist. During his stay with the great pianist Field had to suffer many privations owing to dementi's all but unexampled parsimony, but when the latter left Russia his splendid connexion amongst the highest circles of the capital became Field's inheritance.
n 1805 Field embarked on a concert tour of the Baltic states, staying in Saint Petersburg during the summer. The following year he gave his first concert in Moscow. Clementi arranged the publication of some of Field's old works in Russia in late 1806; he evidently sold Field a piano in exchange for music. Field returned to Moscow in April 1807 and apparently did not revisit Saint Petersburg until 1811.
In 1818 Field revisited Moscow on business, prompted by his collaboration with the publisher Wenzel. He and his wife gave a series of concerts in the city in 1821, the last of which marked their last appearance in public together. Adelaide left Field soon afterward (taking Adrien with her) and attempted a solo career, which was not particularly successful. Field stayed in Moscow and continued performing and publishing his music. In 1822 he met Johann Nepomuk Hummel; the two collaborated on a performance of Hummel's Sonata for Piano 4-Hands, Op. 92.
He gave his last concert in March 1836 and died in Moscow almost a year later, on 23 January 1837, from pneumonia.
Field's training and the cast of his genius were not of a kind to enable him to excel in the larger forms of instrumental music, and his seven concerti for the pianoforte are now forgotten.
Neither do his quartets for strings and pianoforte hold their own by the side of those of the great masters.
(A student of Clementi, the Irish composer John Field was ...)
( An influential early Romantic composer for piano, John ...)
In 1810 he married Adelaide Percheron, a French pianist and former pupil.