It was one of the most sensational books of the eighteenth century, and one of the most reviled – and two centuries later it became an iconic piece of musical theatre. The life of the writer Voltaire embodied the Enlightenment, his work its sturdiest bridge between artistic creation and political effect, and the picaresque novel Candide (1759) contains all his wit and charm, moral energy, mischief, vicious satire, fury and contempt.