What Is Haydn Doing in a John Field Nocturne?

Abstract

The middle section of John Field's Nocturne No. 13 in D minor, published in 1834, towards the end of the composer's life, begins with what appears to be a quotation from the start of the finale of Haydn's Quartet in E♭ major Op. 76 No. 6. Apart from the transposition of Haydn's theme to D major and the use of a different medium, the respective passages are all but identical. This unlikely correspondence is all but unknown and has never been critically discussed. I show that the quotation is no isolated event; indeed, it turns out to be integral to Field's conception of the entire nocturne. The first section, at least in retrospect, can be heard to work with the same shapes, though in the minor mode, before they are transformed by their major‐mode guise in the following più moto section. I consider the affective implications of the quotation in the context of the whole work as well as its possible significance for Field himself and his milieu. Beyond those considerations, the quotation is significant for what it tells us about the reception of Haydn in a supposedly hostile or indifferent nineteenth century.