Candide (operetta)

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Candide (1956) is a comic operetta by Leonard Bernstein, based on the novella of the same name by Voltaire. It has existed in many versions but is now generally performed with a book by Hugh Wheeler. The primary lyricist was Richard Wilbur. Other contributors to the text were John Latouche, Dorothy Parker, Lillian Hellman, Stephen Sondheim, and Leonard Bernstein. Hershy Kay, John Mauceri, and Maurice Peress contributed orchestrations.

Candide is most famous for its colorful and varied score.

1 Characters
2 Musical Numbers
3 Origins
4 Major Productions
5 Notable Elements
6 Final Acceptance
7 See also
8 References
9 External links

[edit] Characters

Candide-tenor
Voltaire/Pangloss-baritone
Maximillian-baritone, but can be played as a tenor
Cunegonde-soprano
Paquette-alto
Old Woman-alto
Cacambo-tenor
Martin-baritone

[edit] Musical Numbers

[edit] Origins

Candide first opened on Broadway as a musical on December 1, 1956. It featured Robert Rounseville as Candide, Barbara Cook as Cunegonde, Max Adrian as Dr. Pangloss, and Irra Petina as the Old Lady. While this production was not a huge success, the music became an almost instant cult hit. Some music historians tend to put that down to the fact that New York at the time didn't want very much to do with an operetta pretending to be a musical. Others blame Hellman's overtly political and topical book, which drew parallels between the Inquisition and McCarthyism. Image:Candide playbill.jpg Without Bernstein's involvement, the show underwent a series of Broadway revivals under the direction of Harold Prince, previously known for, among other work, producing the first run of Fiddler on the Roof. Lillian Hellman, the author of the original book, refused to let any of her work be used in the revival, so Prince commissioned a new, one-act book from Hugh Wheeler. The lyrics were worked on by the team of artists listed above. This 90-minute version, omitting over half of the musical numbers, was known as the "Chelsea version."

In response to requests from opera companies for a more legitimate version, the show was expanded based on Wheeler's book. The two-act opera house version contains most of Bernstein's music, including some songs that were not orchestrated for the original production. It was first performed by the New York City Opera in 1982 under Prince's direction, and ran for 34 performances. Since, opera companies around the world have performed this version. The production continues to be a staple of New York City Opera's repertoire, with performances underway in Spring 2005.

In 1988, by which point Hellman had died, Bernstein started working alongside John Mauceri to produce a version that expressed his final wishes regarding Candide. He thought that in recent versions too much had been jettisoned or tinkered with, with songs given to different characters and/or put in the wrong context. The new show was first produced by Scottish Opera and then, after a few more minor changes, Bernstein conducted and recorded what he called his "final revised version."

Ten years later, when the Royal National Theatre in the UK decided to produce Candide, another revision was deemed necessary and Wheeler's book was rewritten by John Caird. This book stuck far closer to Voltaire's original text than any previous version. The songs remained largely as Bernstein tended, bar a few more tweaks from Sondheim and Wilbur. This, the "RNT version," was a major success and has been performed a number of times since.

[edit] Major Productions

A recent major production of Candide was directed by Lonny Price in a semi-staged concert production with the New York Philharmonic under Marin Alsop. It ran for four performances, May 5–8, 2004. This production was also broadcast on PBS's Great Performances. The cast featured Paul Groves as Candide, Kristin Chenoweth as Cunegonde, Sir Thomas Allen as Dr. Pangloss, Patti LuPone as the Old Lady, with choruses from both Westminster Choir College and the Juilliard School completing the performance cast. This production included the rarely sung duet between Cunegonde and the Old Lady, "We Are Women".

[edit] Notable Elements

Candide is most famous for its popular overture which is often performed alone as a concert piece. This piece owes much of its second theme to Brahms' Serenade No. 1 for Orchestra, though program notes rarely mention it.

[edit] Final Acceptance

Candide has overcome its initial unenthusiastic reaction and achieved enormous popularity. It is very popular among major music schools as a student show because of its wonderful music and the spectacular opportunities it offers to talented student singers. Its overture is played in concert halls all over the world on a regular basis, and is recognizable to those of a certain age as the theme song to the Dick Cavett show, and still used today to herald Cavett onstage during his talk-show guest-spots. It is widely regarded as being among Leonard Bernstein's finest theatrical works. Because of its sparkle, wit, breadth of emotion and musical impact, Candide is often cited as one of the best musical works for the stage to come out of the 20th century.

[edit] See also

20th century classical music

[edit] References

Leonard Bernstein, Lillian Hellman, and Richard Wilbur et al. Candide: Original Broadway Cast Recording. Columbia Soundtracks, 1957.

[edit] External links

Musicals of Leonard Bernstein
On the Town • Trouble in Tahiti • Wonderful Town • Candide • West Side Story • 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue • A Quiet Place • The Race to Urga