• Leonard Bernstein. Comic operetta in two acts. 1956. One act revision in 1973.
• Libretto (1956) by Lillian Hellman, after Voltaire, with additional lyrics by various writers.
• Libretto (1973) by Hugh Callingham Wheeler, with further additional lyrics also by Stephen Sondheim.
• First performance in Boston on 29th October 1956.
• First performance of revised version at the Chelsea Theater Center, New York, on 20th December 1973.

Bernstein's work follows the disastrous adventures of the innocent Candide, under the guidance of his tutor Pangloss, who believes that everything happens for the best, a maxim that the hero is eventually persuaded by circumstances to reject.

The revised versions of Candide, the last of which was made in 1988, differ very considerably in musical and dramatic content. The sparkling overture is heard often enough in the concert- hall, while songs from the operetta include It must be so, with words by Richard Wilbur and Candide's Lament with words by John Latouche. The Venice Gavotte sets words by Dorothy Parker and Richard Wilbur.