People's Church Of Kalamazoo

Voltaire’s brilliant satire “Candide” emerged during the Age of Enlightenment, in the aftermath of a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami which destroyed Lisbon on the morning of November 1, 1755. The mass hysteria led to a re-instatement of the Inquisition, during which thousands were hanged or burned alive to find who had been spreading “earthquake germs”. “Candide” was Voltaire’s satirical response to the hysteria. His book was burned in Geneva, banned in Paris, and put on the Vatican index. It became the best-selling book of the 18th century. We’ll re-visit Voltaire’s story—and Leonard Bernstein’s musical adaptation—and consider its implications for today.