make our garden grow...

Cunegonde - June Anderson, Candide - Jerry Hadley, Leonard Bernstein, conducting


Leonard Bernstein died within a few weeks of this performance. June Anderson was severely ill with the flu during the performance but Bernstein literally begged her to sing, saying that she was his ideal Cunegonde. Jerry Hadly committed suicide a few months ago. This may very well be the ultimate recording of Bernstein's Candide.

CANDIDE
You've been a fool
And so have I,
But come and be my wife.
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...
And make our garden grow.

CUNEGONDE
I thought the world
Was sugar cake
For so our master said.
But, now I'll teach
My hands to bake
Our loaf of daily bread.

CANDIDE AND CUNEGONDE
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...
And make our garden grow.

(ensemble enters in gardening gear and a cow walks on)

CANDIDE, CUNEGONDE, MAXIMILLIAN, PAQUETTE, OLD LADY, DR. PANGLOSS
Let dreamers dream
What worlds they please
Those Edens can't be found.
The sweetest flowers,
The fairest trees
Are grown in solid ground.

ENSEMBLE (a cappella)
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.
And make our garden grow!

(The cow dies)

VOLTAIRE
Any questions?


update:

After posting "Make our garden grow", I realized that I also had to post Christa Ludwig, who was in the same performance as the Old Woman, singing "I am easily assimilated." She almost, no, she did, steal the show with this number. If you watch carefully, you will see June's face with a grin on it because she's enjoying it, as sick as she was during the performance, and actually is applauding Ms. Ludwig at the end, a fairly rare thing to see in a performance.

I had the pleasure to spend an evening with Ms. Ludwig and her husband. By the end of the night my sides ached from laughing. As funny as she did this role, she is the same way, and more, in person. At one point in the evening she turned to her husband, who seemed to be talking alot, and said, "I'm supposed to be the Diva, not you!" We all lost it...




Old Woman - Christa Ludwig



I was not born in sunny Hispania,
My father came from Rovno Gubernya.
But now I'm here, I'm dancing a tango;
Di dee di! Dee di dee di!
I am easily assimilated.
I am so easily assimilated.

I never learned a human language.
My father spoke a High Middle Polish.
In one half-hour I'm talking in Spanish:
Por favor! Toreador!
I am easily assimilated.
I am so easily assimilated.

It's easy, it's ever so easy!
I'm Spanish, I'm suddenly Spanish!
And you must be Spanish, too.
Do like the natives do.
These days you have to be
In the majority

Tus labios rubi
Dos rosas que se abren a mi,
Conquistan mi corazon,
Y solo con
Una cancion.

Mis labios rubi
Dreiviertel Takt, mon tres cher ami,
Oui ou, si si ja ja ja, yes yes, da da.
Je ne sais quoi!

Me muero, me sale una hernia!

A long way from Rovno Gubernya!

Mis/Tus labios rubi
Dos rosas que se abren a mi,
Conquistan mi corazon,
Y solo con
Una divina cancion.
De tus labios rubi!
Rubi! Rubi!
Hey!