Act One

Act One begins in Westphalia, where everybody is blissfully happy. Candide informs the audience that "Life is happiness indeed," and Maximilian and Cunegonde find that their matchless beauty means that "Life is absolute perfection." Dr. Pangloss explains that this is because all is for the best in "The best of all possible worlds." In the castle park, Candide and Cunegonde see Pangloss giving Paquette some private lessons; then they themselves declare their mutual love ("Oh, happy we"), though he dreams of pastoral simplicity and she of the social whirl. However, when he asks to marry her, Candide is cast out for his presumption. He tries to comfort himself with Pangloss' philosophy ("It must be so"), but things change for the worse when he is press-ganged into the Bulgar army and is brutally whipped for attempting to desert.

The Bulgar and the Abar armies fight in Westphalia, where the Baron and his entire family are killed; Cunegonde is raped by an entire regiment before she is bayoneted. Candide searches unsuccessfully for her corpse ("Cunegonde! Cunegonde, is it true?"). He wanders through the countryside as a beggar and gives his few coins to a man rotting from syphilis, who turns out to be Pangloss. His own troubles have not shaken his belief that all is for the best, he explains ("Dear boy"). They go to Lisbon and witness an earthquake that kills 30,000 people, but Pangloss is undeterred. He and Candide are thus arrested for heresy and at an auto-da-fé, which the chorus happily witnesses ("What a day, what a day"), Candide is again whipped and Pangloss is hanged. Candide decides that since he cannot see the loving-kindness of people and the goodness of the world, the problem must be his ("It must be me"). In Paris, Cunegonde, having survived, is the mistress of both a Bishop and a wealthy Jew. She determines to bravely hide her sense of shame by taking all the jewels and pleasure she can get ("Glitter and be gay"). Candide's wanderings take him to Paris, and they are reunited ("You were dead, you know"). The Old Lady, Cunegonde's companion, warns them that both of Cunegonde's patrons are on their way, and Candide ends up killing them both, accidentally. The three flee to Cadiz, and the Old Lady recounts her own story of misfortune, rape, slavery, and having a buttock cut off for food during a siege. She tells the chorus that "I am easily assimilated." Candide joins the army, and the three of them leave for the New World.

Act Two

The second act opens in Buenos Aires, with the chorus asking the audience whether they have understood the lesson of "Universal good." They discover Paquette and Maximilian (both of whom survived) disguised as slave girls. The Governor falls in love with Maximilian, but upon learning his true gender instead suggests to Cunegonde that they briefly enjoy the fleeting pleasure of love ("My love"). She insists that, as a virgin, she will consent only to marriage. He agrees, a Jesuit discreetly disappears with Maximilian, and the Old Lady tells Candide that the police from Paris are on his trail. He goes to hide in the jungle. The Old Lady and Cunegonde celebrate the power of their feminine wiles ("We are women"). Candide and a companion, Cacambo, stumble across a Jesuit camp, where they find that the Father and Mother Superior are actually Maximilian and Paquette ("Come, heathen of America"). Candide tells Maximilian that Cunegonde is alive and that he plans to marry her, and when Maximilian is affronted at the unsuitable match, Candide accidentally (again) stabs him to death and flees.

Three years later, back in Buenos Aires, Cunegonde demands that the Governor finally marry her, and the Old Lady finds comfort and boredom even worse than painful excitement ("Quiet"). In the jungle, Candide and Cacambo find themselves in Eldorado, a peaceful Utopia. However, as much as he appreciates its beauties ("The Ballad of Eldorado"), Candide is miserable without Cunegonde. As a parting gift, the residents of Eldorado present Candide with a flock of golden sheep, but only two survive the trip back. Afraid of being arrested in Buenos Aires, he gives one to Cacambo, to ransom Cunegonde from the Governor, with a message to meet him in Venice. On his way, he stops in Surinam, where Martin, showing him a mutilated slave from a sugar plantation, tries to explain to Candide that life is not perfect and laughter is the only way to survive ("Words, words, words"). Candide thinks his own philosophy is vindicated when he sells the other sheep to the villainous Vanderdendur in exchange for a ship heading to Venice ("Bon voyage"). The ship sinks, and Candide escapes on a raft, where he meets five kings rowed by a galley slave, Pangloss. The kings plan to leave their pomp for the simple life ("The Kings' Barcarolle"). In Venice, the kings start the simple life by gambling in the Casino, where the Old Lady, her employer, Maximilian (who survived), and a crook wonder about the futility of their endeavors ("What's the use"). The Old Lady and Cunegonde, masked, ask Candide for help, which he gladly offers, while Pangloss, who has won, revels in the attention of the ladies ("Millions of rubles"). He recognizes Cunegonde and is disillusioned ("Nothing more than this"). For several days, he is unable to speak. They have just enough money left to purchase a small farm, where none of them is happy. The chorus comments that ("Life is neither good nor bad"), and Candide finally rouses himself to propose marriage to Cunegonde and resolves to "Make our garden grow." The others join in this aspiration in the finale.

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Candide is a comic operetta based on the work by Voltaire. The work was extremely unsuccessful during its Broadway premiere in 1956, and it is primarily only as an overture that the music is remembered at all today. The overture was premiered by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in 1957 with Bernstein conducting and became almost an instantaneous orchestra and concert band staple. The work is extremely quick-paced, with a feverish excitement that begins from the first breath of sound. Each player of the ensemble, whether an orchestra or concert band, is required to perform with the utmost of virtuosity, and the work requires an immensely together ensemble. Many of the meters are in seven beats or of other non-traditional types, and they quickly change. Short, full ensemble statements open the work, and this beginning idea intermittently appears several times throughout the work, almost as a reminder of what has been and that it is still the same work. While there are some melodic ideas, as well as some wonderful harmonic textures, it is clear that the main stylistic character of the music must be its rhythmic use. Strong percussion accents, writing in orchestrational groupings and families such as brasses, and harsh attacks from the ensemble as an entity are apparent throughout. The form of the piece is as scattered as the music itself. Most of the ideas are short and sporadic. When an idea is presented, there is usually little time for it to be developed, but instead the music quickly changes direction to some other idea. Oddly, this lack of development of ideas has not deterred from the music's popularity; with the Overture to Candide still a popular favorite among concert programmers, it is doubtful that this music will die away anytime soon.

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