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FIELD: Piano Music, Vol. 2 (Benjamin Frith) (Naxos: 8.550762)


John Field (1782-1837)

Piano Music Volume 2


John Field was born in Dublin in 1782, the son of a theatreviolinist. He was taught the piano first by his father and then from the age ofnine by the Neapolitan composer and impresario Tommaso Giordani, who had settledin Dublin in 1783. Field himself made his debut as a pianist in Dublin on 24thMarch 1792 at the Rotunda Assembly Rooms in a Lenten concert organized by Giordani,advertised, with pardonable understatement, as eight years old. He played inlater Spiritual Concerts in the season, including in one programme a concertoby his teacher.


In 1793 the Fields moved to Bath, hoping, perhaps, to usetheir connection with the famous castrato and composer Venanzio Rauzzini whohad settled there, but by the autumn of the same year they had moved again, thistime to London. Here Field's father played as a violinist in the HaymarketTheatre orchestra and found the substantial sum of a hundred guineas to buy hisson John an apprenticeship with Muzio Clementi. In London John Field appearedin 1794, at the age of twelve, as the talented ten-year-old pupil of Clementi. Haydn,in a diary entry of 1795, records his impression of "Field a young boy,which plays the pianoforte Extremely well" and on 25th May that year Fieldplayed a concerto in a benefit concert that included a Haydn "Overture".



1801 saw the end of Field's seven-year apprenticeship andthe following year Clementi set out for Paris, taking Field with him. Fromthere they travelled on to Vienna, Clementi intent on his business ventures butobviously having Field's interests at heart. There lessons in counterpoint werearranged with Albrechtsberger, Beethoven's former teacher. Clementi hadintended to leave Field to fend for himself in Vienna while he travelled to Russiato promote sales of his pianos and his interests in publishing. Field begged tobe allowed to accompany him and Clementi agreed, with some reluctance, sincethis would mean a material addition to the expenses he might now incur.


In Russia Clementi was able to use Field, as he had donein London, as a demonstrator in his piano sale-rooms, but there were necessaryeconomies which led to Field's later resentment, although the journey had been undertakenat his own request. There were later stories of near starvation and ofinadequate clothing for the Russian winter. Field found it possible, however,to establish himself, after Clementi's departure in 1803, enjoying thehospitality of General Marklovsky in the summer and in March 1804 giving the firstperformance in Russia of his own Piano Concerto No. I, which was wellreceived. In 1805 he travelled to Mittau, where Louis XVIII was in exile, to Rigaand to Moscow, returning to St Petersburg in the summer of 1806 and continuing,in the following years, to divide his time between the two Russian cities. In1810 he married a French pupil of his in Moscow and opportunely agreed on anexchange of cities with his rival Steibelt, who moved to Moscow in time for theevents of 1812, while Field pursued his interests in St Petersburg.


Field enjoyed great success as a performer, in a stylethat had more in common with that of Hummel than with the virtuosity of youngerplayers like Liszt. As a teacher he was effective and generally expensive, witha later income of some ten thousand roubles a year from that activity, doubledby his concert appearances. His personal life, however, was much lesssatisfactory. He enjoyed the convivial society of friends, drank far too muchand was careless with his money. His wife and their son Adrien moved in 1819 to Smolensk where she taught the piano, while Field enjoyed a liaison with anotherFrenchwoman, with whom he had another son. The latter, Leon Charpentier, tookhis mother's surname, later winning a name for himself as a singer, under thename of Leonov.


By 1831 ill health forced Field to seek medical help in London,where he travelled with Leon, recovering enough to be able to appear atconcerts in London and in Manchester. He attended the funeral of Clementi in WestminsterAbbey and saw his mother again before her death, and then travelled to Franceand Italy, giving concerts. Owing in good part to his own excesses, his healthdeteriorated during the journey and he spent nine months in hospital in Naplesbefore his rescue by a Russian noblewoman, Princess Rakhmanova. She arranged totake him with her on her slow progress back to Russia, by way of Vienna, wherehe was well enough to give three concerts and stay for some time with Czerny.

In Russia once more he moved to Moscow, where he had many friends. Leon nowsettled in St Petersburg to follow his own career and Field was joined by hislegitimate son Adrien for the final period of his life. He died on 23rd January1837.


The legendary delicacy of Field's playing is reflected inhis poetic and innovative Nocturnes with their demand for an expressivesinging tone, Nocturne No.10 in E minor was written in Russia about theyears 1821 or 1822 and is characteristic in its gentle melancholy, its delicacya distinct contrast with Field the man, whose manners and habits of life werelater likened by impressionable younger musicians in Paris to those ofFalstaff. Nocturne No.11 in E flat major, published in 1833, builds upgently to a dynamic climax, within the limits of the general mood of the piece.

The following Nocturne No.12 in G major, marked Lento, has moreelaborate accompanying figuration and served as a slow movement to Piano ConcertoNo.7. It is succeeded by Nocturne No.13 in D minor, published in1834. This has the additional direction molinconico, although there is achange of feeling as the work moves into the tonic major key. Nocturne No.14in C major was the first of a group of three such works published in 1836and dedicated to Princess Galitzina, a relation by marriage of Princess Rakbmanova,to whom Field owed his safe return to Russia. It has a more dramatic musicalcontent than the preceding works and is relatively extended in length.


Field's three Piano Sonatas were published in London in1801 as Opus 1, with a dedication to Clementi, seemingly marking thebeginning of a possible career as a composer. The sonatas are each in two movements,lacking a central Adagio. They reflect contemporary influences, notablythose of Clementi and of Dussek, who was in London in the 1790s. The third ofthe set, the Sonata in C minor, starts with a sonata-form movement thatis of particular interest in its revelation of an idiom of piano-writingcontemporary with that of early Beethoven and Clementi. The second movement, a Rondo,has something of the feeling of an English popular air in its principal theme,a contrast to the various episodes introduced.


Nocturne No.15 in C major, the second of the set forPrincess Galitzina, brin
Item number 8550762
Barcode 730099576222
Release date 01/06/2000
Category Instrumental | Classical Music
Label Naxos Classics | Naxos Records
Media type CD
Number of units 1
Artists Benjamin Frith
Composers John Field
Disc: 1
Nocturne No. 10 in E minor
1 Nocturne No. 10 in E minor
Nocturne No. 11 in E flat major
2 Nocturne No. 11 in E flat major
Nocturne No. 12 in G major
3 Nocturne No. 12 in G major
Nocturne No. 13 in D minor
4 Nocturne No. 13 in D minor
Nocturne No. 14 in C major
5 Nocturne No. 14 in C major
Sonata in C minor, Op. 1/3
6 I. Non troppo allegro, ma con fuoco e con espress
7 II. Rondo: Allegretto scherzando
Nocturne No. 15 in C major
8 Nocturne No. 15 in C major
Nocturne No. 16 in F major
9 Nocturne No. 16 in F major
Nocturne No. 17 in E major
10 Nocturne No. 17 in E major
Nocturne No. 18 in E major, "Midi"
11 Nocturne No. 18 in E major, "Midi"
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