Nada te turbe / Let nothing disturb you (On a poem by Santa Teresa de Jesús)

For Reciter and Piano


Commentary
Recording
Text
Videos
Related text


Commentary


Like a good handful of works in my catalogue, Nada te turbe (Let nothing disturb you) was written at the suggestion of the versatile Luciano González Sarmiento, who managed to “provoke” a group of six composers (Eduardo Soto Millán, Francisco Novel Sámano, Alfredo Rugeles, Tomás Marco, Carlos Cruz de Castro and myself) to write an equal number of melologues for reciter and piano on texts by Santa Teresa de Jesús, in commemoration in 2015 of the V Centenary of her birth.
The selected texts were both poetic and from mystical works. For my melologue I chose the beautiful poem entitled Let nothing disturb you, a prayer actually, which apparently the Santa had handwritten on a piece of paper to mark the pages of her breviary.

The music follows the structure of the poem and the contrasting character of its ten stanzas, which range from the mystical to the gloomy -in reference to hell- going through the ecstatic, as it could not be less coming from Santa Teresa.

Let nothing disturb you was premiered, together with the other commissioned works, in the concert entitled "Melologues in honor of Santa Teresa", held on June 7, 2015 at the Teatro de la Villa "Santiago y San Marcos" in Alba de Tormes (Salamanca), performed by the actor Manuel Galiana and the pianist Marisa Blanes, who were also protagonists of the recording released that same year by the IBS Classical label.

The score, along with that of the other premiered works, was published in 2015 by Enlaces Sonoros Editorial.



Recording


Recording: Manuel Galiana (reciter) and Marisa Blanes (piano) (fragment)




Text

Nada te turbe / Let nothing disturb you

Nada te turbe, nada te espante, todo se pasa, Dios no se muda; la paciencia todo lo alcanza; quien a Dios tiene nada le falta: Sólo Dios basta. Eleva tu pensamiento, al cielo sube, por nada te acongojes, nada te turbe. A Jesucristo sigue con pecho grande, y, venga lo que venga, nada te espante. ¿Ves la gloria del mundo? Es gloria vana; nada tiene de estable, todo se pasa. Aspira a lo celeste, que siempre dura; fiel y rico en promesas, Dios no se muda. Ámala cual merece bondad inmensa; pero no hay amor fino sin la paciencia. Confianza y fe viva mantenga el alma, que quien cree y espera todo lo alcanza. Del infierno acosado aunque se viere, burlará sus furores quien a Dios tiene. Vénganle desamparos, cruces, desgracias; siendo Dios tu tesoro nada te falta. Id, pues, bienes del mundo; id dichas vanas; aunque todo lo pierda, sólo Dios basta.

Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you, everything is left behind. God never changes; patience obtains all things; He who has God finds he lacks nothing: God alone suffices. Elevate your thinking, go up to heaven, don't worry about anything, let nothing frighten you. Jesus Christ follows with big chest, and come what may let nothing frighten you. Do you see the glory of the world? It is vain glory; nothing is stable, everything is left behind. Aspire to the heavenly that always lasts; faithful and rich in promises, God never changes. Love it what it deserves immense kindness; but there is no fine love without patience. Trust and living faith keep the soul, who believes and hopes reaches everything. From hell hounded although he is seen, will mock his fury he who has God. Come helpless, crosses, misfortunes; God being your treasure you lack nothing. Go, then, goods of the world; Go vain joys; even if I lose everything, God alone is sufficient.

Videos

(Low quality video) Premiere: Alba de Tormes (Salamanca), June 7, 2015 City Theater "Santiago y San Marcos" Manuel Galiana (reciter) and Marisa Blanes (piano)

20th Festival Latinoamerican Music. Caracas, May 13, 2018 Fedora Alemán Hall of the National Center for Social Action through Music Javier Vidal (reciter) and Mariantonia Palacios (piano)

Related text


MELOLOGUES IN HONOR OF SAINT TERESA
By Tomás Marco
(Excerpt from the booklet of the CD by IBS Classical, performed by Manuel Galiana and Marisa Blanes – 2015)

A contemporary musical interpretation of the Christian mysticism of the Spanish Golden Age

Six prominent contemporary composers from both sides of the Atlantic approach the 500th anniversary of Saint Teresa to explain, through the lens of modern aesthetics, the depth of texts that transcend centuries. The union of music and spoken word, reviving a classical genre such as the melodrama, takes us on a journey through the intense literary work of the Doctress of the Church, bringing the thought of the spoken language to those sonic circles that lie beyond words, yet reinforce their meaning.
Four Spanish composers from different generations have come together in this passionate venture.
[...]
From an intermediate generation, and the latest link in a great lineage of artists, not just musicians, José Luis Turina (born in 1952), also from Madrid, has approached the poetry of Saint Teresa through another of her literary pinnacles, as it combines the depth of her thought with one of the finest stylistic expressions of the Golden Age. Nada te turbe ("Let nothing disturb you") is a poem as exemplary as it is well-known, and with it, the composer establishes a sonic fabric in which word and music achieve an equivalence that gradually rises to reach the realm of the inexpressible, where only music reigns.
[...]