Alice Sara Ott

What do you think of when you are asked about the nocturne genre? Most people answer: Frédéric Chopin. »Invented« the nocturne in the sense of a character piece for piano, however, was the largely unknown composer John Field, born in Dublin in 1782.

The composer John Field
»I am not a Calvinist. I am a Claveciniste«, he is said to have replied when asked on his deathbed whether he was a Protestant, Catholic or even a Calvinist. In London, the piano virtuoso took lessons from Muzio Clementi, and on his journey to St. Petersburg he also stopped off in Vienna, where Johann Georg Albrechtsberger is said to have taught him. With his twenty Nocturnes, he left behind compositions of a dreamy, graceful character that made a strong impression on Chopin, among others.

Alice Sara Ott's programme compilation
Alice Sara Ott discovered these still relatively rarely performed pieces during the pandemic. In her piano recital, she combines a selection of them with three sonatas by Beethoven, also in a romantic, nocturnal mood.