PANGLOSS
ON WAR
Though war may seem a bloody curse
It is a blessing in reverse.
When cannon roar
Both rich and poor
By danger are united.
...
'Tis war makes equal, at it were,
The noble and the commoner;
Thus war improves relations.
CANDIDE'S LAMENT
(as he leaves the battlefield)
My world is dust now,
And all I loved is dead.
Oh, let me trust now
In what my master said:
"There is a sweetness in ev'ry woe."
It must be so. It must be so.
...
But men are kindly;
They'll give me a helping hand.
So said my master, and he must know.
(and later as he leaves Lisbon)
My master told me
That men are loving-kind;
Yet now behold me,
Ill-used and sad of mind.
Men must have a kindness I cannot see.
It must be me. It must be me.
My master told me
The world is warm and good;
It deals more coldly
Than I had dreamt it would.
There must be sunlight I cannot see.
It must be me. It must be me.
THE CHORUS AT THE AUTO-DA-FÉ
What a lovely day, what a jolly day,
What a day for a holiday!
He don't mix meat and dairy*
...
So sing a miserere**
And hand the bastard high!
...
What a lovely day for a holiday!
At last we can be cheery,
The danger's passed us by.
So sing a Dies Irae**
And hang the bastard high!
The Old Lady's tango I AM EASILY
ASSIMILATED has many phrases in Spanish (and a few other languages).
... In one half-hour I'm talking in Spanish:
Por favor! Toreador!
I am easily assimilated
I'm so easily assimilated.
...
Mís labios rubí
Dos rosas que se abren a mí
Conquistan mi corazón
Y sólo con
Una divina canción
de mís labios rubí!
...
Mís labios rubí
Dreiviertel takt, mon tres cher ami,
Oui oui, sí sí, ja ja, ja, yes yes, da da.
Je ne sais quoi!
*Meat and dairy is a reference
to Jewish Kosher laws which forbid the two at the same meal and require
completely separate dishes to be used for them. Not mixing the two
was a signal to the Inquisition.
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BALLAD
OF ELDORADO
Up a seashell mountain
Across a primrose sea,
...
To a land of happy people,
Just and kind and bold and free.
They bathe each dawn in a golden lake,
Em'ralds hang upon the vine.
All is there for all to take,
Food and God and books and wine.
They have no words for fear and greed,
for lies and war, revenge and rage.
They sing and dance and think and read.
They live in peace and die of age.
WHAT'S THE USE (In Venice)
Old Lady: Yes, I'm clever, but where does it get me?
My employer gets all of my take;
All I get is my daily spaghetti,
While he gorges on truffles and cake.
...
It's all so defeating
and wrong, oh, so wrong,
That I just have to pass it along!
(tosses money to Ragotski)
Ragotski: But I have to pay so much protection
To the chief of police and his men,
That each day when he makes his collection
I'm a poor man all over again.
(tosses money to Maximilian)
Maximilian: My position has only one defect:
That there's someone who's shaking me down
...
And he threatens to shame and expose me
If I do not incessantly pay.
(tosses money to a crook)
Crook: I could live very well by extortion, But I simply can't
keep what I earn,
...
I've a system that's fiendishly clever,
Which I learned from a croupier friend,
And I should go on winning forever,
But I do seem to lose in the end.
(tosses money to croupier)
AT THE END OF THE OPERA
Candide: Is it this, the meaning of my life,
The sacred trust I treasured,
Nothing more than this?
All of my hope and pleasure,
Nothing more than this?
The Final Chorus
(During the finale the chorus sings:)
Life is neither good nor bad
Life is life, and all we know.
Good and bad and joy and woe
Are woven fine, are woven fine.
(Then Candide sings to Cunegonde)
...And let us try before we die
To make some sense of life.
We're neither pure nor wise nor good;
We'll do the best we know.
We'll build our house, and chop our wood,
And make our garden grow.
(The others join in.)
Let dreamers dream what worlds they please;
Those Edens can't be found.
The sweetest flow'rs, the fairest trees
Are grown in solid ground.
**The miserere
(Have mercy on me) is a musical setting of Psalm 51. Dies irae
(Day of wrath or judgment) is part of a Requiem Mass.
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