Addendum: Liszt and Bach

When Liszt sought a way to express his spiritual yearnings after the death of his son Daniel in 1859 and his daughter Blandina in 1862, yearnings that found their artistic form in the “Weinen, Klagen” Variations, he turned to J. S. Bach for a model.

Liszt worked in Weimar through the 1850's, and there came under the influence of Bach, who had likewise worked there in his day. Bach's music was still not widely known, though Mendelssohn had done much in Leipzig to remedy that.

It is impossible to consider Bach's music apart from its spiritual context. And it is impossible to contemplate Bach without recognizing his steadfast faith in God. “The Fifth Evangelist,” some have called him. I would add that if St. Paul can be seen as the “Apostle to the Gentiles,” Bach could be viewed (or heard) as an “Apostle to Musicians.” He proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus Christ his Lord in a form peculiarly appropriate to musicians and lovers of music, of whom there have been none more devoted than Liszt.

He was one of the many people who heard that proclamation, more than a century after Bach's time. It is an example of how our works in the Lord's service may lie dormant, eventually springing forth and bearing fruit in ways we could never have imagined.