Field, J

JOHN FIELD

Although FW had no first-hand knowledge of Field's teaching or playing,

but is evident that by 1830 Field had become something of a legend, and that

his superiority among pianists had become generally recognized, even though

he had not left Russia for many yrs, and was something of a romantic and

mysterious figure. Essential elements of Field's method was calm and

graceful technical perfection (based on rigorous training of Clementi - used

to practice with coins on back of hands, which must never move, however

complex and difficult the piece) - for which he wrote his 'Nouvel Exercise'

• which obtained sweet, silvery tone (which many likened to singing) from

contemporary pianos, combined with his original manner of fingering, and

special tone colour produced by his almost constant use of the sustaining

pedal. By time of wild, passionate playing of Liszt (who considered Field's

playing "languid") etc this type of playing considered old-fashioned.

John Field Oddities (have kept to this, as Grove entry so good): Really just

his dissipated life style - was an "amusingly absent-minded and thoroughly

hedonistic Bohemian; often feckless, but full of charm, and always

surrounded by a circle of admirers who felt for him something very like

hero-worship." (Piggott, p. 34) During early career in St. Petersburg

(1810s), he was a young virtuoso who worked hard and earned good money from

playing and teaching, so could afford to dress well (though carelessly and

unconventionally), rent magnificent rooms, keep servants, and have own

carriage, and despite hard work spent long hours socializing. Was known as

extremely disorganized, careless, very lavish and generous, great bon

viveur, witty despite stutter and appalling puns, and for his casual

attitude to money - never saved, were frequently bills hidden all over his

room, supposedly lit his cigars with bank notes, and were tales of him

throwing his takings on the floor having returned home after post-concert

carousel, and waking up in morning to find that his 4 dogs (classical names

• Herodotus, Socrates, etc) had chewed banknotes up, but he only laughed.

Agitation and concern were in fact feelings quite alien to him - complete

calm of body and mind were essential to his art (particularly his manner of

playing) and so devoted his whole life to keeping himself relaxed - why

reputation for extreme laziness grew up, although really he worked very hard

(at least in early yrs) on technical practice and (for a while) composing.

Nevertheless, was true that he always drank when practising and performing,

and was during this phase of his career that he developed habit of hard

drinking (from 1810 - obviously not unusual in Russia, but soon taken by him

to extremes, and always expensive champagne and cognac) - considered it part

of his "inspiration", but soon became uncontrolled, and from 1810 spent long

periods of life never completely sober. (Though even those who condemned his

drinking admitted that he played at very best when slightly drunk). This

exacerbated his laziness and absent-mindedness - eg at concert infront of

enormous audience at Moscow at Lent 1810 when he simply failed to show up:

once audience highly irritated and angry after long wait, Governor of Moscow

sent chief of police to find Field - was found in a restaurant, surrounded

by drinking cronies, v. drunk, but was forcibly taken to concert hall, where

he of course played brilliantly (despite almost falling off piano stool) to

great applause - Russians in fact even more fond of him for drinking

weakness etc. Was from these kinds of events that romantic picture of Field

arose as day-dreaming, rather self-destructive (but v. amiable) Bohemian who

only emerged from constant alcoholic haze when seated before keyboard.

Drinking then got worse when his marriage began to fail in St. Petersburg,

and then took up with long-term mistress Madame Charpentier, with whom had

an illegitimate son, Leon, who became another infant prodigy - for while,

had 2 households to run, and relations with wife v. bad. She left him in

1821, and he returned to Moscow for unproductive yrs 1823-31, when health

deteriorating and almost no composing at all: by this time was often

familiarly known as "Drunken John", as was by 1825 also using drink as an

anaesthetic as symptoms of fatal illness (rectal cancer) had already

appeared, despite fact that his strong constitution would keep him alive -

through great suffering - for another 12 yrs. Illness caused such a change

in him, that in 1832 (aged 50, after hair-raising operation by Astley Cooper

in London, leading English surgeon of day) when he saw visited his mother in

England, he had to take off his shirt and show her birth-mark on shoulder to

convince her that he was her John: nevertheless, was clearly made of stern

stuff - was that yr he had huge success with his E flat piano concerto at a

Philharmonic Society concert in London, and he would still manage to last

another five yrs. Eventually died of pneumonia, which diseased body could

not fight.

Field & Pushkin: I know it says in Grove that pair were friends (though F.

17 yrs P.'s senior), and even about a duel portrait, but I've looked up all

the bib refs and more and can find nothing about this -even to lengths that

1972 biog of Field says there's no proof pair ever met,and that only

occasion when they can even be proved to have been under the same roof was

during 1819-20 season at St. Petersburg, when one night Field played a

Fantasia as an interlude between 2 theatrical performances, a drama and a

light opera, at which entertainment Pushkin is known to have been present.

However, they were of course both in Moscow in late 1820s, so could have

met, just have found nothing on it, with no mention of Field in any of the

Pushkin biogs at all. Only other possible link is that in 1831-32 Field

teaching and socializing in London with Pushkin's old flame (1823-24, the

one Alexander Raevsky involved in), Countess Elizaveta Vorontsova.