What's not to be happy about?

Video posted by arnau884
Of course, this "Best of All Possible Worlds" is from Leonard Bernstein's operetta based on Voltaire's satire Candide, and thus it is extremely tongue-in-cheek. You could even call it a bit mean-spirited, because, being a satire of Leibniz's optimism it is extremely broad and the philosophy it is satirizing is more subtle. (...But it is not entirely an unfair critique, either!)

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A positive raft of lyricists ultimately worked on Candide, but I believe that John Latouche wrote the lyrics for this iteration of "The Best of All Possible Worlds [The Lesson Song]," and although he apparently never mentioned it, Latouche was indeed Jewish, since both his maternal grandparents were. He died young (at age 41), but before that wrote the lyrics for some very well-known songs, such as "Taking a Chance on Love," and a number of musicals, plays, and even an opera.

Of course, Leonard Bernstein was famously Jewish. And really, there is so much to say about his accomplishments (the smallest collection of which has to do with popular music and the Broadway musical--if Candide even qualifies as a Broadway musical) that instead I'm going to share a personal memory of the man:

I don't know if they still do this--I hope they do--but the New York Philharmonic used to have open rehearsals, which I found out about when a sister was taking a course in music appreciation. One day, we noticed that Leonard Bernstein was going to be guest-conducting at one such open rehearsal, so she, I, and my parents decided that we couldn't pass that up, even though on the day itself it was pouring as though the heavens wanted to wash Lincoln Center into the Hudson. Despite the deluge, the hall was very full (not common at open rehearsals). Now, as we had come to realize over the previous months, at open rehearsals the general rule was that the orchestra and conductors would ignore the audience and just practice, sometimes running over some sections several times, sometimes just doing a run through--interesting enough, I always found. Bernstein, however, came out, saw the unusually large crowd of music students and lovers, and not only greeted us enthusiastically but took time before each piece to tell us about it, explain why he had chosen it, give us some history of the piece and composer, and point out what to listen for. Give Lenny an eager audience, and it seems he would automatically go into teaching mode--and he was fascinating and genuinely charming about it, too. That was in October 1989, and it turned out to be the open rehearsal for his last appearance with the New York Philharmmonic.