John Field
John Field (born July 26, 1782 in Dublin , † January 23, 1837 in Moscow ) was an Irish composer , pianist and piano teacher. He is considered to be the inventor of the nocturnes .
Life
John Field came from a Protestant Irish family. He was born in 1782, the eldest son of Robert Field in Dublin. He received his first musical training on the piano from his grandfather, John Field, an organist, and from his father, who appeared as a violinist in Dublin theaters. From the age of nine he was tutored by Tommaso Giordani . His first public concert, highly praised in the local press, took place in Dublin in March 1792. In 1793 the family moved to London , where John Field continued his education with Muzio Clementi . In the same year he had his first public concert in London. He received violin lessons from Johann Peter Salomon , who had lived in London since 1780 and played an important role in London's concert life. Since the age of eighteen he has had regular concerts in London.
In 1802 he traveled to Paris with Clementi , on the one hand to present the pianos that Clementi had built, on the other hand to perform as a pianist himself. In Paris he played a. a. Fugues by Bach . In 1803 both went to Saint Petersburg in Russia , where Clementi was able to establish himself as a piano teacher in the St. Petersburg aristocracy. After Clementi's departure, Field took over his pupil and began his brilliant career initially with private performances in the salons of the aristocracy. He made his public debut as a pianist in March 1804 with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Society. He then went on a concert tour to the Baltic states to Riga and Mitau ( Jelgava ). After his return he lived alternately in St. Petersburg and Moscow. In 1810 he married his former student Adelaide Percheron. His son Leon Charpentier emerged from an affair with a French woman, who later made a career as a tenor under the name Leon Leonov. In 1812 the couple moved to St. Petersburg, where Field stayed for the next ten years, and where in 1819 their son Adrien Field was born. During this phase of his life, which was one of his most productive times as a composer, he created many nocturnes, piano sonatas and piano concertos, which were published by Honoré-Joseph Dalmas, Peters and Breitkopf & Härtel and which quickly spread throughout Europe, and which contributed to his reputation as a composer that he already enjoyed as an excellent pianist. In 1821 Field, whose wife had separated from him shortly after their son was born, moved to Moscow. In Moscow he continued his concert activity, met a. a. his pianist colleague and “rival” Johann Nepomuk Hummel , but earned the nickname “ drunken John ” because of his excessive alcohol consumption .
In 1831 he traveled to London, where he was treated for cancer and where he played several concerts. In London he made the acquaintance of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy , Ignaz Moscheles and Sterndale Bennett . From London he continued his concert tour to France, Belgium, Switzerland and Italy. He played another concert in Milan, then traveled to Naples in the spring of 1834, but was now so ill that he could no longer play a concert. He was in hospital for nine months, had several operations, but was able to return to Moscow after improving his health and with the financial support of a Russian aristocratic family. On the way back he visited Carl Czerny in Vienna and played three more concerts there. In September 1835 he finally arrived in Moscow. In the period from 1835 until his death in January 1837 he composed only a few nocturnes and piano pieces.
His grave is in the Vvedenskoye Cemetery in Moscow. After his death, a list of donations was laid out for the construction of a tomb. Among the signatories are besides Denis Dawydow numerous names from the Russian aristocracy, such as B. Galitzin , Orlov , Gagarin , Bulgakov and Tolstoy .
plant
Field is the first composer to write Nocturnes , one-movement character pieces for piano, which are characterized by a song-like calm melody (mostly of the right hand) and a long-range accompaniment by broken chords (mostly of the left hand). These pieces significantly influenced Frédéric Chopin , who composed 21 nocturnes himself and made the form famous. Field's 18 nocturnes are among the earliest one-movement, romantic character pieces for piano and can be seen as important precursors for many other works by romantic composers, such as Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy , Robert Schumann , Franz Liszt and Edvard Grieg .
Field wrote seven piano concertos , the second (1811) of which is arguably the best known, although the fourth (1819) is often considered more musically valuable. In some of his concerts and in all piano sonatas, the slow movement that Field used to replace with an improvised nocturno during his performance is missing. There are also three rondos and a transcription of Field's twelfth nocturne as well as a large number of compositions for piano solo, chamber music and a few vocal works .
The piano teacher
John Field is considered to be one of the founders of the so-called Russian school of piano playing. Fields students were also involved in founding the Moscow Conservatory .
After Clementi's departure from Russia, he initially taught members of the aristocracy and their children. Besides Michail Glinka , who only received three piano lessons from him, his students included a. a. Glinka's teacher Charles Mayer and Antoni Kątski , Alexei Werstowski , Alexander Guriljow , Alexandre Dubuque and Maria Szymanowska .
“After arriving in Petersburg, I took piano lessons from the famous Field. Even though I've only heard it a few times, I still remember its powerful and at the same time soft touch and precise play. It sounded like big raindrops hitting the keys and the notes were like pearls falling on soft velvet. Fields' playing was often bold and of a capricious variety, but he never distorted his compositions through charlatanry and never slammed the keys as if he wanted to chop meat. In the three piano lessons he gave me, I learned his first Divertimento in E major and was praised by him. "
Alexandre Dubuque, a student of Field, and Alexander Villuan , who also taught Fields methods, trained generations of Russian pianists. Dubuque e.g. B. was the teacher of Nikolai Swerew , who trained the composer and piano virtuoso Konstantin Igumnow , who in turn was a teacher of Jakow Flier , with whom Mikhail Pletnev then studied.
Even Friedrich Wieck , father of Clara Schumann , Fields method was known. In a letter to Louis Spohr he wrote that he had taught his daughter after the great school of John Field and a little later repeated in a letter to Friedrich Kalkbrenner that he was teaching Clara and his other students according to Fields method.
reception
Field was valued as a pianist by his contemporaries. At the beginning of the 19th century he enjoyed an almost legendary reputation as a concert pianist, to which the reports by Louis Spohr , Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Michail Glinka contributed.
[...] his fingers alone played, without any unnecessary movement of the hand and arm, each finger striking the key with such mechanical power and nicety, that he was enabled to produce the loudest as well as the softest tones, the shortest as well as the longest notes, with equal perfection, without the slightest visible effort.
"[...] only his fingers played, without unnecessary movement of hand and arm, each finger touching the key with such mechanical force and accuracy that it allowed it to produce both the loudest and the softest sounds, the shortest and the shortest longest notes, with the same perfection and without visible effort. "
His playing and compositions influenced many great composers, including Chopin, Brahms , Schumann and Liszt.
- Hamilton Harty (1879-1941): A John Field Suite. For orchestra (1939). Boosey & Hawkes.
- Samuel Barber (1910–1981): Nocturne. Hommage to John Field, op. 33. For piano (1959).
- Wilhelm Killmayer (1927-2017): To John Field. Nocturnes for piano (1978). Schott publishing house, Mainz.
- Malcolm Arnold (1921-2006): Fantasy on a Theme of John Field. for orchestra. Faber, 1994.
- Sergio Antonio del Rio (* 1956): Nocturno. Homage to John Field for piano (1998).
Wolfgang Schlueter wrote the short story John Field and Heavenly Electricity: Sketches. Eichborn, Frankfurt am Main 1998.
Catalog raisonné
Piano solo
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- Nocturnes
- H 24 - Nocturne for piano No. 1 in E-flat major - 1812
- H 25 - Nocturne for piano No. 2 in C minor - 1812
- H 26 - Nocturne for piano No. 3 in A flat major - 1812
- H 30 - Nocturne for piano No. 9 "Romance" in E-flat major - 1816
- H 36 - Nocturne for piano No. 4 in A major - 1817
- H 37 - Nocturne for piano No. 5 in B-flat major - 1817
- H 40 - Nocturne for piano No. 6 "Cradle Song" in F major - 1817
- H 45 - Nocturne for piano No. 7 (13) in C major - 1821
- H 46 - Nocturne for piano No. 8 (9) in E minor - 1821
- H 54 - Nocturne for piano No. 10 in E minor - 1829
- H 56 - Nocturne for piano No. 11 in E-flat major - 1832
- H 58 - Nocturne for piano No. 12 (14) in G major - 1822
- H 59 - Nocturne for piano No. 13 (15) “Dernière Pensée” in D minor - 1834
- H 60 - Nocturne for piano No. 14 (16) in C major - 1835
- H 61 - Nocturne for piano No. 15 (17) in C major - 1836
- H 62 - Nocturne for piano No. 16 (18) in F major - 1836
- - Nocturne for piano No. 17, lento, in E major
Chamber music
- H 9 - Pleyel's Concertante for piano, violin & violoncello in F major, 1802
- H 34 - Piano Quintet in A flat major, 1816
Concerts
- H 27 - Concerto No. 1 E flat major (1799)
- H 31 - Concerto No. 2 in A flat major (1811)
- H 32 - Concerto No. 3 E flat major (1811)
- H 28 - Concerto No. 4 in E flat major (1814, revised 1819)
- H 39 - Concerto No. 5 in C major "L'incendie par l'orage" (1817)
- H 49 - Concerto No. 6 in C major (1819, revised 1820)
- H 58 - Concerto No. 7 in C minor (1822, revised 1822–1832)
Vocal works
- H 47 - The Maid of Valdarno (lost)
- H 50 - 2 songs
Recordings (selection)
Total recordings
- Nocturnes, sonatas and concerts: Mícéal O'Rourke , with London Mozart Players under Matthias Bamert . (8 CDs.) Chandos Records .
- Piano works: Benjamin Frith . Naxos 1997 to 2001.
- Piano concertos: John O'Conor , with the New Irish Chamber Orchestra under János Fürst . Onyx (CD 101/103).
- The fourth CD with piano concertos also contains chamber music, including a piano quintet and a string quartet, two divertissements for piano and strings as a first recording.
- Piano concertos: Paolo Restani , with the Nizza Philharmonic Orchestra under Marco Guidarini . Brilliant, 2009.
- Works for piano solo: Pietro Spada . Label Arts.
- Nocturnes and Sonatas: John O'Conor. Telarc, 1989 ff
Individual works
- Nocturnes 1-16. Joanna Leach on square pianos by Stodart (c. 1823), Broadwood (1826) and D'Almaine (c. 1835). ATHCD 1, Athene 1991.
- Piano pieces: O'Conor. Chandos.
- Piano concertos No. 2 and No. 3: Andreas Staier on a Broadwood piano from 1802.
- To give an impression of how the composer realized his works from 1816, Staier plays one of the nocturnes as the middle movement in a concert.
- Rondo in A flat major for fortepiano and strings: Eckart Sellheim and Collegium Aureum . EMI, 1986.
estate
There is as yet no archive in which Field's estate has been collected. Most of his estate is in Moscow archives, as well as scattered in the National Library in Dublin and in the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris.
literature
- Cecil Hopkinson: A bibliographical thematic catalog of the works of John Field . Self-published, London 1961, JSTOR : 732018 .
- Patrick Piggott: The life and music of John Field. 1782-1837. Creator of the nocturne . Faber & Faber, London 1973, ISBN 0-571-10145-3 .
- Nicholas Temperley: John Field . In: Stanley Sadie (Ed.): The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians . tape 6 , p. 534-539 .
Web links
- Literature by and about John Field in the catalog of the German National Library
- Works by and about John Field in the German Digital Library
- Sheet music and audio files by John Field in the International Music Score Library Project
- jpc - list of publications, newest inclusion first
Footnotes
- ^ Nicholas Temperley: John Field . In: Stanley Sadie (Ed.): The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians . tape 6 , p. 534 .
- ^ Nicholas Temperley: John Field . In: Stanley Sadie (Ed.): The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians . tape 6 , p. 535 .
- ^ A b Nicholas Temperley: John Field . In: Stanley Sadie (Ed.): The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians . tape 6 , p. 536 .
- ↑ Quoted from SWR-Musikstunde with Wolfgang Scherer , pdf, November 15, 2010.
- ^ Raymond Stults: Irish Pay Tribute to Founder of Russian Piano School The Moscow Times, March 17, 2009, accessed April 17, 2018.
- ↑ Lara Marlowe: An Irishwoman's Diary about Miceal O'Rourke, Russia's best-loved Irish pianist. In: The Irish Times. March 14, 2015, accessed March 15, 2016 .
- ^ Patrick Piggott: The Life and Music of John Field . London 1973, p. 100 .
- ↑ Sergio Antonio del Rio; Nocturno for piano musescore.com, accessed March 14, 2016.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Field, John |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Irish composer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 26, 1782 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Dublin |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 23, 1837 |
| Place of death | Moscow |