Field, JOHN,

Field, JOHN, musician and composer, commonly known as Russian Field, was born in Dublin, 26th July 1782. A pupil of Clementi, he accompanied him in 1802 on a continental tour, but, settling in St Petersburg as a teacher of music, remained there from 1804 till 1823, when he proceeded to Moscow; in 1832 he returned to London. Nevertheless in the following year he once more started on a long continental tour, which terminated with his death at Moscow on January 11, 1837. Although Field wrote seven concertos, three sonatas, and numerous pianoforte pieces, he is to-day only remembered as the author of about half-a-dozen Nocturnes, charming little musical lyrics. Liszt wrote an essay on Field, prefixed to Schubert's edition of the Nocturnes, and Spohr in his Selbstbiographie (vol. i.) gives some account of Field himself.