Bernstein: Candide

Leonard Bernstein's operetta Candide has had a very tumultuous history. It was a flop at its 1959 premiere on Broadway and experienced numerous revisions and re-hatchings over the following 30 years. It wasn't until 1989 that Bernstein recorded his final and definitive version of the work with the London Symphony Orchestra and an all-star cast of singers. Candide is based on Voltaire's satire about a young, naïve man in search of "the best of all possible worlds." At the beginning of the story, Candide's lover and friends are all killed in a massive battle. As he travels the world searching for peace, one by one he finds his friends have somehow been "resurrected" in various exotic locales. In this selection, Candide is reunited with The Old Lady, who recounts a fantastical story of how she ended up in Spain!