did chopin ever meet john field?

[Tash]

i was just wondering cos my teacher reckoned he must have, but in the biography i read it never mentioned such a thing so could someone get my head straight?

[cziffra777]

I'm not sure about this, but I don't think they met. For one thing, Field spent much of his life in Russia, so there would have been little opportunity for them to meet. I think he moved to Russia around the time Chopin was born. He did return to Europe a few times (I think), but I doubt they would have been in the same city at the same time. Even though they probably didn't meet, Field was a big influence on Chopin. You can hear this in many of Chopin's early nocturnes.

[Tash]

yeah that's what i was thinking. cos my teacher was talking about field's influence on chopin and stuff but i didn't think he was in france

[dinosaurtales]

Don't know if they ever actually met, but Field has been referred to as the "poor man's Chopin"

[bernhard]

John Field (1782 – 1837)
Chopin (1810 – 1849)

They may have met:

“He stole John Field's concept of the nocturne and pretended it was his creation. When Chopin heard Field play he was highly critical and conceited saying that Field had a sickroom talent.”

(My underlining. Read the full article here:
https://www.musicweb.uk.net/classrev/2002/Dec02/Chopin_Wright.htm)

They certainly knew of each other as these quotes show:

"...in a word, finished artists, take lessons from me and couple my name with that of Field. In short, if I were still stupider than I am, I should think myself at the apex of my career; yet I know how much I still lack, to reach perfection; I see it the more clearly now that I live only among first-rank artists and know what each one of them lacks."

(Read more here:
https://www.gressus.se/chopin/quotes/)

It was John Field who aptly said of Chopin, "He was dying all his life."

(https://hjem.get2net.dk/erling_hansen/chopin.html)

The bemused Kalkbrenner presumes that Chopin is a pupil of Field, assessing his playing as Crameresque and his touch as Fieldian.

(https://www.nifc.pl/icich/chopin.php?m=3&top=2&cat=2&id=30&p=3)

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[cziffra777]

John Field (1782 – 1837)
Chopin (1810 – 1849)

They may have met:

“He stole John Field's concept of the nocturne and pretended it was his creation. When Chopin heard Field play he was highly critical and conceited saying that Field had a sickroom talent.”

(My underlining. Read the full article here:
https://www.musicweb.uk.net/classrev/2002/Dec02/Chopin_Wright.htm)

That article is full of inaccuracies. First of all, the quote about a "sickroom talent" was made by Field about Chopin, not the other way around. Also, I get the impression that Chopin had a great deal of respect for Field, even if Field did not reciprocate. I very seriously doubt that Chopin tried to pass off the nocturne as his invention. Chopin taught Field's nocturnes to his students, which is a pretty stupid thing to do if you are trying to take credit for inventing the nocturne.

This did make me remember Field's quote about Chopin being a "sickroom talent", which implies that Field heard Chopin, so they could have met.

[Tash]

agh now i'm confused!

[Franz]

It was John Field who aptly said of Chopin, "He was dying all his life."

Wasn't it Berlioz who said that?  I certainly remember reading that quote about Chopin in J.H. Elliot's biography of the big-haired composer.  Perhaps I'm confused.