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Otto Harbach
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Otto Abels Harbach, born Otto Abels Hauerbach (August 18, 1873 - January 24, 1963) was an American lyricist and librettist of about 50 musical comedies. He was born in Salt Lake City, Utah to Danish immigrant parents Adolph Hauerbach and his wife Sena Olsen, and attended the Salt Lake Collegiate Institute, transferring to Knox College, in Galesburg, Illinois, where he was a friend of Carl Sandburg, and graduated in 1895. He obtained his masters degree in English from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, and attended Columbia University in New York with the goal of becoming an English professor. In the early 1900s, complaining of eye difficulties making prolonged reading uncomfortable, he became a newspaper reporter. He also worked at various advertising agencies.
He collaborated as lyricist or librettist with Karl Hoschna, Rudolf Friml, Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern, Louis Hirsch, Herbert Stothart, Vincent Youmans, George Gershwin and Sigmund Romberg. He was a charter member of ASCAP in 1914, serving as its director (1920-1963), vice president (1936-1940), and finally president (1950-1953).
He was lyricist for many songs now in the standard repertoire, including "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," "Indian Love Call," "Cuddle Up a Little Closer," "One Alone," "The Night Was Made For Love," and "I Won't Dance."
Harbach, an inductee of the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, died in New York City.
His work includes:
- Early Work
- 1907 Three Twins (music Karl Hoschna)
- 1909 Bright Eyes (music Karl Hoschna)
- 1912 The Firefly (music Rudolf Friml)
- 1913 High Jinks
- 1918 Going Up
- Jerome Kern and Harbach
- 1925 Sunny, a Marilyn Miller vehicle
- 1931 The Cat and The Fiddle
- 1933 Roberta
- Oscar Hammerstein II and Harbach
- 1924 Rose-Marie by Rudolf Friml
- 1926 The Desert Song by Sigmund Romberg
- 1927 Golden Dawn, music by Emmerich Kalman and Herbert P. Stothart
- Vincent Youmans, Irving Caesar and Harbach