The Three Fathers

Composed in 1998, The Three Fathers (originally titled in English) is a solo piano work that bears a strong political and historical resonance. Gilberto Mendes dedicated the piece to three figures affectionately known as “the three fathers” — Ernesto Cardenal, Fernando Cardenal and Miguel d’Escoto. All three were Catholic priests and key figures in the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua during the late 1970s. Each served as a minister in the revolutionary government (Ernesto Cardenal as Minister of Culture, Fernando Cardenal in Education, and Miguel d’Escoto in Foreign Affairs). Because of their political engagement, they were sanctioned by the Catholic Church — Pope John Paul II suspended them a divinis. A supporter of revolutionary causes in Latin America and himself deeply influenced by liberation theology, Mendes composed this work as a tribute to their commitment. The title plays on the word father — both in the familial and clerical sense — and perhaps alludes to the Christian Trinity. Written shortly after the fall of the Sandinista government in 1990, The Three Fathers may be seen as a gesture of musical solidarity with the ideals of that movement.

Musically, Mendes bases the work on tango themes — a doubly significant choice. Though Argentine in origin, the tango has become a pan-Latin American cultural symbol, and its passionate expression makes it an apt vehicle for honouring revolutionary figures. Ernesto Cardenal, in particular, was a noted admirer of popular and folkloric Latin American music, lending a personal resonance to the reference.

The piece unfolds across three distinct tango themes, likely corresponding individually to each of the three priests. Mendes develops these themes with considerable formal sophistication: they are subjected to contrapuntal techniques such as inversion and retrograde, and are transposed across a variety of tonalities. In doing so, he grafts high compositional technique — drawn from serial and post-dodecaphonic practice — onto popular musical material. One tango may first be stated plainly, then inverted (ascending lines become descending, and vice versa); another might appear in retrograde; a third could undergo rhythmic transformation. This gives the work a quasi-serial character, even as the listener can still identify familiar tango rhythms and contours.

The piano writing alternates between percussive gestures — evoking the habanera pulse — and lyrical moments, allowing the tango’s inherent melancholy to emerge. Tonal centres shift frequently, suggesting a journey through different historical or emotional states. Yet a consistent thread runs through the piece, anchored by the recurrence of the tango motifs. The overall atmosphere oscillates between dance and meditation: at times one hears the echo of a salon tango; at others, the music fractures, becoming more dissonant — as if memory itself were fragmenting. Toward the end, Mendes likely weaves the three themes into a final superposition or synthesis, their juxtaposition evoking a symbolic triple presence: the three fathers standing together.

The Three Fathers was premiered at the 1998 Festival Música Nova in Santos, in a concert dedicated to politically engaged music of the late 20th century. The work soon travelled internationally, receiving its US premiere in 1993 at the Museum of Modern Art’s Summergarden series in New York, alongside other contemporary Latin American works.

The piece was recorded by Argentine pianist Beatriz Balzi — a passionate advocate of Latin American repertoire — on her 1986 album Compositores Latino-Americanos Vol. 2, under the Spanish title Los tres padres (Tango). Her interpretation highlights both the popular spirit of the tango and the sophistication of Mendes’s compositional craft.

Critics have described The Three Fathers as a “powerful and original tribute”: powerful for the emotional resonance of its musical language and its explicit political reference, and original in its fusion of tango idioms with advanced compositional techniques. Musicians have noted how Mendes achieves a rare balance between political intent and formal integrity — a work that stands on its own as an inventive musical structure, even for listeners unfamiliar with its background. And for those who do know, the returning tango motifs take on the aura of quiet hymns to liberty.

The Three Fathers remains a striking example of Mendes’s aesthetic and political engagement — always expressed with nuance, never dogma.