FERENC LISZT’S UNIVERSALISM THROUGH THE PRISM OF RECEPTION OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH’S CREATIVITY

Abstract

The article considers the reception of the creative heritage of the German composer and organist Johann Sebastian Bach in the creative life of the Hungarian composer and pianist Ferenc Liszt through the prism of the universalism of his artistic activity. The research is focused on a complex methodological approach that sublimates analytical, musicological, theoretical, systemic, generalizing, inductive-deductive, biographical, historical, hermeneutic and comparative methods. The main orientations of J.S. Bach’s artistic heritage were studied which inspired the universal artistic activity of the Hungarian master throughout his creative career. It is underlined that the German kantor greatly influenced the formation of F. Liszt’s creative individuality and the formation and development of his various artistic roles. The works of J.S. Bach, which the Hungarian artist systematically performed throughout his life and served as a strong basis for the development of an individual interpretive discourse, inspired him to create a significant number of compositions on original Bach themes, on the monogram B – A–C – H etc. An important place in F. Liszt’s work occupied the transcription and editing of J.S. Bach’s music. The Hungarian artist highly valued his piano works: inventions, “The Well-Tempered Clavier”, suites etc. They were a mandatory component of the teaching repertoire in his classroom as a teacher. It is ascertained the constant presence of Bach’s heritage in the circle of personal and professional interests of F. Liszt – as a performer, teacher, composer, transcriber and editor. Reception of J.S. Bach’s works in various areas of F. Liszt’s universal activity was characterized by permanence and correspondence of the main spiritual principles in the dimension of the existence of the universal creative being of the German and Hungarian masters. J.S. Bach has become for F. Liszt a kind of inspirer, an artist of world scale, who had an extremely significant influence on the formation of the personal, spiritual and artistic creed of the Hungarian artist, whose activity serves as an excellent example of the realization of the creative potential of a figure of universal creative gifting.