Leonard Bernstein was a composer who could write serious symphonies one day and Broadway hits the next, a conductor who rose to lead the New York Philharmonic, a pianist, a writer, an educator, a TV personality, an activist, and an all-around embodiment of everything a modern American musician could hope to be. While his 1953 musical Wonderful Town was enjoying a Tony Award-winning run on Broadway, a playwright friend proposed that they develop another show based on Voltaire’s 1759 novella Candide, a suggestion that Bernstein followed through on while simultaneously creating West Side Story. 

Bernstein called Candide “an American’s Valentine to Europe,” and that Old World flavor is evident in the electrifying overture. The manic opening has the flavor of a Rossini overture, infused with jazzy syncopations that put a contemporary sheen on this story from the Age of Enlightenment. Besides its own catchy music, the overture previews tunes that appear later in the show, including “Oh, Happy We” and “Glitter and Be Gay.”

Piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, E-flat clarinet, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, strings