Biography can be found here:

http://www.carolinaclassical.com/articles/field.html

Enthusiasts of early Romantic piano music are familiar with the name of John Field (1782-1837). Students of piano literature have likely studied one or more solos by Field. But the richness of the composer's inventiveness and the genuine innovations he made in piano playing and in establishing the independent piano piece as a legitimate solo genre for concert performance have largely and undeservedly been overshadowed by the accomplishments of those who followed him. Many of these later Nineteenth Century composers used Field's compositions as models for their own works, and they built upon his techniques and extended them into the full flowering of Romantic piano music.

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