Voltaire (1694-1778)

French author and philosopher (true name François-Marie Arouet), one of the leading figures of the French Enlightenment. His best-known work today is Candide (1758), a satire on optimism. (The young Candide is beset by war, Inquisition, earthquake, and sharks in this "best of all possible worlds.") In his lifetime Voltaire was famous primarily for his poetry and stage works; now he is more valued for his contributions to philosophy in Philosophical Letters (1734) and The Philosophical Dictionary (1764) and as leader of the reformist group called the philosophes. He was often in trouble for his views, spending a year imprisoned in the Bastille, another year as an exile in England, and a long sojourn at the court of Frederick the Great. His concept of history as an all-inclusive treatment of civilization rather than a catalogue of political events made it possible for people to think in terms of permanently valuable "classics" and stylistic evolution. These ideas positively and deeply affected the self-perception of composers, as well as the attitudes and expectations of performers and audiences.

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