Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 18.djvu/414

Field  it, probably on the occasion of his marriage with a Mlle. Charpentier, from whom he was soon afterwards separated. A son, the issue of the marriage, subsequently sang at the opera at St. Petersburg, under the name of Leonoff. In 1831 a report of Field's death was circulated, and it was contradicted in the ‘Harmonicon’ for that year (p. 157). His ‘love of retirement’ is alluded to; hopes are held out of his ultimately resolving to journey westward. In 1832 he came to England, and on 29 March he attended Clementi's funeral; on 27 Feb. he played his concerto in E flat at the Philharmonic Society's concert; he shortly afterwards went to Paris. It is not impossible that the article on ‘The Present State of Music in St. Petersburg,’ inserted in the ‘Harmonicon’ for 1832, p. 56, may have been written by Field. In the following year he made his way, through Belgium and Switzerland, to Italy, where he was less successful. It is difficult to separate cause from effect, but it is certain that simultaneously with this reverse of fortune, habits of laziness and intemperance increased upon him, and for nine months he lay in a hospital in Naples. He suffered from fistula, which was aggravated by his intemperance. A Russian family named Raemanow pitied him, and took him back to Moscow. On the way they visited Vienna, where his playing, especially of his own ‘Nocturnes,’ was greatly admired. Soon after his arrival in Moscow, on 11 Jan. 1837, he died.

His ‘Nocturnes’—there are twenty works usually, though probably wrongly, so designated—and some of his seven concertos have an individuality and charm which can never lose its freshness. His music is romantic in a very high degree, and there can be no doubt that Chopin's ‘Nocturnes’ owe much both of their form and spirit to Field. As a criticism of the character of his works, Liszt's introduction to his edition of the ‘Nocturnes’ (Schuberth) may be consulted, though for all biographical purposes it is worthless. Besides the works mentioned the published compositions include two divertimenti for piano, strings, and flute; a quintet and a rondo for piano and strings; variations on a Russian theme, and grande valse, for piano, four hands; four sonatas for piano solo, three of which are dedicated to Clementi; Marche Triomphale, Grande Pastorale, airs en Rondeau, airs with variations, Rondeau Ecossais, Polonaise, rondo, ‘Twelve o'clock,’ and a few songs.

[Grove's Dict. i. 373, 519; Parke's Musical Memoirs, i. 290; Pohl's Mozart in London, p. 144; Pohl's Haydn in London, p. 234; Fétis's Biographie Universelle des Musiciens; Spohr's Selbstbiog. i. 43; Harmonicon, 1828, p. 141, and other passages referred to above; Brit. Mus. Cat.; information from J. P. Theobald, esq.]  FIELD, JOSHUA (1787?–1863), civil engineer, born about 1787, was of the firm of Messrs. Maudslay, Sons, & Field of Lambeth [see ]. Field had closely studied the marine engine and steam navigation since 1816, when Maudslay & Co. made a pair of combined engines, each fourteen horse-power, applying the power to the paddle-wheel shaft by the crank instead of by cog-wheels, according to the previous mode. Messrs. Maudslay & Field undertook to construct engines of adequate power to propel a vessel, with sufficient storage for fuel, across the Atlantic, at a time when many of the constructors of the day declined to attempt an apparently impracticable feat. The engines were completed and fitted on board the Great Western in March 1838, and shortly afterwards the vessel started on her first voyage from Bristol, reaching New York, a distance of three thousand miles, in thirteen days and ten hours.

Field was one of six young men who, towards the end of 1817, founded the Institution of Civil Engineers. He was one of its earliest vice-presidents, and he continued to hold that office until elected president on 18 Jan. 1848, being the first president selected from the class of purely mechanical engineers. In his inaugural address, delivered on 1 Feb., he alluded particularly to the changes which had then been introduced into steam navigation, and to some of the more marked improvements, both in the engines and the vessels, by which they had been adapted for carrying cargo and fuel for long voyages, and for attaining great speed on short voyages. This office he filled for two years, the period permitted by the regulations. On 3 March 1836 he became a fellow of the Royal Society, and was also a member of the Society of Arts. Field died at his residence, Balham Hill House, Surrey, on 11 Aug. 1863, aged 76.

[Builder, cited in Gent. Mag. 3rd ser. xv. 379–80; Lists of Fellows of the Royal Society.]  FIELD, NATHANIEL (1587–1633), actor and dramatist, born in the parish of St. Giles, Cripplegate, was the son of the Rev. John Field (buried 26 March 1587–8), author of ‘A Godly Exhortation by occasion of the late Iudgement of God shewed at Paris Garden 13 Jan. 1583,’ a violent attack upon theatrical entertainments. He was baptised 17 Oct. 1587, under the name Nathan, an