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Sheldon Harnick

{{Short description|American lyricist and songwriter (1924–2023)|bot=PearBOT 5}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2023}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Sheldon Harnick

| image = Sheldon Harnick.jpg

| caption = Harnick in 2006

| background = non_performing_personnel

| birth_name = Sheldon Mayer Harnick

| alias =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1924|4|30}}

| birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2023|6|23|1924|4|30}}

| death_place = New York City, New York, U.S.

| genre = Musical theater

| occupation = Lyricist

| years_active = 1949–2023

| spouse = {{ubl|{{marriage|Mary Boatner|1950|1957|end= annulled}}|{{marriage|Elaine May|1962|1963|end = divorced}}|{{marriage|Margery Gray|1965}}}}

}}

Sheldon Mayer Harnick (April 30, 1924 – June 23, 2023) was an American lyricist and songwriter best known for his collaborations with composer Jerry Bock on musicals such as Fiorello!, She Loves Me, and Fiddler on the Roof.

Early life

Sheldon Mayer Harnick was born to American Jewish parents Esther (Kanter) and Harry M. Harnick, a dentist, in Chicago on April 30, 1924.{{cite news|url = https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/arts/sheldon-harnick-dead-fiddler-on-the-roof-1235522453/|title = Sheldon Harnick, Famed 'Fiddler on the Roof' Lyricist, Dies at 99|work = The Hollywood Reporter|date = June 23, 2023|accessdate = June 23, 2023|last = Koseluk|first = Chris}}{{cite web |title=Harnick, Sheldon 1924– |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/harnick-sheldon-1924 |website=www.encyclopedia.com}} He grew up in the Chicago neighborhood of Portage Park.{{cite web| title =Words into Song| publisher =Northwestern| url =http://www.northwestern.edu/magazine/northwestern/summer2004/features/harnick/| access-date =February 12, 2016}} He took an interest in music from an early age, playing the violin as a child. He began writing music while a student at Carl Schurz High School.{{cite web |last1=Berkvist |first1=Robert |title=Sheldon Harnick, 'Fiddler on the Roof' Lyricist, Dies at 99 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/23/theater/sheldon-harnick-dead.html |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=June 23, 2023 |date=June 23, 2023|url-access = limited}}

Musical career

After serving in the U.S. Army, Harnick graduated from the Northwestern University School of Music (1946–1949) with a Bachelor of Music degree, and worked with various orchestras in the Chicago area. He then moved to New York City and wrote for many musicals and revues.{{cite web| title =Biography of Sheldon Harnick | work =MTI Shows| url =http://www.mtishows.com/biography.asp?writerid=3471| access-date =March 2, 2012}} He was friends with Charlotte Rae from college, and he went to see her one night at the Village Vanguard where she was singing a revue. Yip Harburg, who was one of Harnick's idols, heard she was singing a song of his and decided to come. He told Harnick that he enjoyed his writing, and urged him to continue. Harburg advised Harnick to work with a large number of composers. He also counseled him to write character and comic songs, not ballads, for Broadway. Harnick’s composition "The Merry Minuet" was popularized by The Kingston Trio.{{cite web |url=http://www.playbill.com/features/article/183726-Sheldon-Harnick-Approaching-90-Fiddler-Lyricist-Recalls-a-Mentor/pg2?tsrc=nx |title=Sheldon Harnick Approaching 90: Fiddler Lyricist Recalls a Mentor - Playbill.com |access-date=November 7, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222211318/http://www.playbill.com/features/article/183726-Sheldon-Harnick-Approaching-90-Fiddler-Lyricist-Recalls-a-Mentor/pg2?tsrc=nx |archive-date=February 22, 2014 }}

Around 1956, Harnick met Jerry Bock, forming "what is arguably the most important musical partnership of the '60s."{{cite web| title = Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick| work =Broadway:The American Musical| publisher =PBS.org| url =https://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/stars/jerry-block-and-sheldon-harnick/| access-date =February 26, 2023}} Their first musical was The Body Beautiful, running for only 60 performances in 1958, but Fiorello! (1959) ran for 795 performances and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama as well as the Tony Award for Best Musical. Fiddler on the Roof (1964) "became one of the most cherished of all Broadway musicals." Other Broadway successes for Harnick included She Loves Me (1963), The Apple Tree (1966) and The Rothschilds (1970).

Harnick wrote the libretto for the opera Coyote Tales, with music by Henry Mollicone, which received its world premiere at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City in March 1998.[http://henrymollicone.com/catalog/coyote-tales/ "'Coyote Tales' listing"] henrymollicone.com, accessed March 4, 2012 He wrote the book, music and lyrics to the musical Dragons, which was performed in 2003 at the Luna Stage in Montclair, New Jersey.Jones, Kenneth.[https://archive.today/20120908031017/http://www.playbill.com/news/article/82744-Sheldon-Harnicks-Musical-Dragons-Roars-in-NJ-Starting-Nov-13-Harnick-in-the-House-for-Opening "Sheldon Harnick's Musical, 'Dragons', Roars in NJ Starting Nov. 13; Harnick in the House for Opening"], playbill.com, November 13, 2003 He wrote the lyrics and co-wrote the book with Norton Juster for the musical The Phantom Tollbooth, based on the book by Juster. The musical premiered at the Kennedy Center in 2007.[http://www.kennedy-center.org/events/?event=KITBB "'The Phantom Tollbooth' listing"] kennedy-center.org, accessed March 4, 2012

Harnick released the album Sheldon Harnick: Hidden Treasures (1949–2013) in 2014, which includes recordings of song demos and pieces cut from Broadway shows from his private collection.{{Cite web|title=At 90, 'Fiddler' Lyricist Tells His Story|url=https://www.npr.org/2014/04/30/308276626/at-90-fiddler-lyricist-tells-his-story|date=April 30, 2014|website=NPR.org| access-date=June 1, 2020}} In 2020, Harnick worked on a musical adaptation of the Soviet play The Dragon by Evgeny Schwartz.{{Cite web|title=Checking in With Tony Winner Sheldon Harnick, Co-Creator of Fiddler on the Roof, Fiorello!, More|url=http://www.playbill.com/article/checking-in-with-tony-winner-sheldon-harnick-co-creator-of-fiddler-on-the-roof-fiorello-more|last=Gans|first=Andrew|date=April 24, 2020|website=Playbill|access-date=June 1, 2020}}

Personal life

Harnick was married three times. His 1950 marriage to Mary Boatner was annulled in 1957. His marriage to Elaine May lasted only a year, from 1962 until their divorce in 1963. In 1965, he married Margery Grey. They had two children and lived in an apartment at The Beresford, a building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/27/realestate/sheldon-harnick-fiddler-on-the-roof.html|title = Home Hits the Right Notes of Comfort and Beauty|date = November 1, 2020|newspaper = The New York Times|page = RE5|last = Kaufman|first = Joanne|accessdate = June 23, 2023|url-access = limited}} Harnick died there on June 23, 2023, aged 99.

Stage productions

Honors and awards

  • In 1960, Harnick, Bock and Jerome Weidman (book) won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for Fiorello!.{{cite web |title=Fiorello!, by Jerome Weidman, George Abbott, Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick |url=https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/jerome-weidman-george-abbott-jerry-bock-and-sheldon-harnick |website=Winners {{!}} The 1960 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Drama |access-date=26 June 2023 |language=en}}
  • Harnick has won three Tony Awards. In 1960, he, Bock and Weidman tied with Rodgers and Hammerstein for best musical; that year, both Fiorello! and The Sound of Music won. And in 1965, Bock and Harnick's Fiddler on the Roof won for both Best Musical and Best Composer and Lyricist.{{cite web | url = http://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=8645|title=Sheldon Harnick| work =Internet Broadway Database|access-date = March 2, 2012}}
  • In honor of Harnick's vast influence on American music, on May 19, 1984, he was awarded the University of Pennsylvania Glee Club Award of Merit. Beginning in 1964, this award "established to bring a declaration of appreciation to an individual each year that has made a significant contribution to the world of music and helped to create a climate in which our talents may find valid expression."{{cite web | url = http://www.dolphin.upenn.edu/gleeclub/MEMBERS_merit.html|title=The University of Pennsylvania Glee Club Award of Merit Recipients |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120209191432/http://www.dolphin.upenn.edu/gleeclub/MEMBERS_merit.html|archive-date=February 9, 2012}}
  • Harnick was honored at the Twenty-Sixth Annual William Inge Theatre Festival located in Independence, Kansas, in 2007.{{cite web |url=https://ingecenter.org/festival/past-festivals/ | title=Past Festivals – William Inge Center for the Arts |quote= 2007 - Jerry Bock (1928-2010) & Sheldon Harnick }}{{cite web |last1=Pincus-Roth |first1=Zachary |title=Inge Festival Honoring Fiddler Writers Bock, Harnick and Stein Kicks Off April 25 |url=https://playbill.com/article/inge-festival-honoring-fiddler-writers-bock-harnick-and-stein-kicks-off-april-25-com-140295 |publisher=Playbill |access-date=26 June 2023 |date=April 25, 2007 |quote=Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick and Joseph Stein, the writing team behind Fiddler on the Roof, will be honored at the 26th annual William Inge Theatre Festival in Independence, KS, which kicks off April 25.}}
  • Harnick and Jerry Bock were presented with the 18th Annual York Theatre Company's prestigious Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatre in 2009.{{cite web| last =Hetrick| first =Adam| title =Bock and Harnick Receive Hammerstein Award Nov. 23; Cook, Kuhn, Kudisch and More Will Sing| publisher =Playbill| date =November 23, 2009| url =http://www.playbill.com/news/article/134755-Bock-and-Harnick-Receive-Hammerstein-Award-Nov-23-Cook-Kuhn-Kudisch-and-More-Will-Sing| access-date =March 2, 2012| url-status =dead| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20121013012808/http://www.playbill.com/news/article/134755-Bock-and-Harnick-Receive-Hammerstein-Award-Nov-23-Cook-Kuhn-Kudisch-and-More-Will-Sing| archive-date =October 13, 2012}}
  • Harnick received the 2016 Drama League Award for Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theatre, as well as the 2016 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre.{{cite web |url=http://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/nominees/winners.html |title=The 2016 Tony Awards: Winners |access-date=June 14, 2016}}
  • Harnick received an honorary doctorate from Northwestern University in 2018.{{cite news|url = https://communication.northwestern.edu/news-events/news/2023/sheldon-harnick-northwestern-alum-and-broadway-legend-dead-at-99.html|title = Sheldon Harnick, Northwestern Alum and Broadway Legend, Dead at 99|last = Trotter|first = Kerry|date = June 23, 2023|accessdate = June 26, 2023|work = Northwestern University}}
  • Harnick was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972 and received its highest honor, the Johnny Mercer Award, in 1990.{{Cite web |title=Sheldon Harnick {{!}} Songwriters Hall of Fame |url=https://www.songhall.org/profile/Sheldon_Harnick |access-date=July 16, 2022 |website=www.songhall.org}}

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • {{IBDB name}}
  • {{iobdb name|11436}}
  • {{IMDb name|363676}}
  • {{allMusic|id=mn0000748963}}
  • {{discogs artist|id=599255}}
  • [http://arcat.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=588/ Sheldon Harnick Papers] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20131210210627/http://arcat.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=588/ |date=December 10, 2013 }} at the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20101217195252/http://songwritershalloffame.org/index.php/exhibits/bio/C328 Songwriter Hall of Fame biography]
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20080624222326/http://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/interactive/video/index.html#h TonyAwards.com Interview with Sheldon Harnick]
  • [http://www.ingefestival.org William Inge Theater Festival website]

{{Bock and Harnick}}

{{Navboxes

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{{PulitzerPrize DramaAuthors 1951-1975}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Harnick, Sheldon}}

Category:1924 births

Category:2023 deaths

Category:20th-century American Jews

Category:20th-century American songwriters

Category:21st-century American Jews

Category:21st-century American songwriters

Category:American Ashkenazi Jews

Category:American musical theatre lyricists

Category:American opera librettists

Category:Bienen School of Music alumni

Category:Broadway composers and lyricists

Category:Carl Schurz High School alumni

Category:Grammy Award winners

Category:Jewish American songwriters

Category:Military personnel from Chicago

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Category:People from the Upper West Side

Category:Pulitzer Prize for Drama winners

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Category:United States Army personnel of World War II

Category:Writers from Chicago