John Field himself named this concerto "L'incendie par l'orage," roughly translated as "Fire by Lightning." The work is believed to have two inspirations: Daniel Steibelt's 1798 piano concerto "L'incendie de Moscou" and Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony. Steibelt was, like Field, a resident of St. Petersburg; his concerto referred to the fires of Moscow that met Napoleon's army in 1812. Field's opening movement bears resemblance to the Beethoven in its depiction of a storm and the calm aftermath. It is not known if Field's title bears any relation to an actual event. The first movement, Allegro moderato, begins in C major with a mild, lyrical first theme and more stirring second theme. The piano exposition essentially ornaments these themes in the same florid style found in his Nocturnes. The development section of the movement, in C minor, is the storm itself, filled with unresolved diminished seventh chords helping to depict the violence of the storm. A tam-tam signals the end of the storm and the recapitulation of the themes, with an extremely brief cadenza rounding out the movement. The following Adagio is not so much a full movement, than it is a slow introduction to the Allegro finale, an animated, carefree rondo with a brilliant coda.

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