Harbach (real name, Hauerbach), Otto (Abels)

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Harbach (real name, Hauerbach), Otto (Abels)

Harbach (real name, Hauerbach), Otto (Abels), American lyricist and librettist; b. Salt Lake City, Aug. 18, 1873; d. N.Y., Jan. 24, 1963. He studied at Knox Coll. and Columbia Univ. In 1908 he collaborated with the composer Karl Hoschna on the successful musical Three Twins. He subsequently wrote more than 40 works for Broadway, with such composers as Oscar Hammerstein II, Rudolf Friml, Vincent Youmans, Jerome Kern, and Sigmund Romberg; he also wrote for films. His most popular lyrics included “Rose-Marie” and “Indian Love Call” from Friml’s Rose-Marie (with Hammerstein; 1924), “The Night Was Made for Love” from Kern’s The Cat and the Fiddle (1931), and “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” from Kern’s Roberta (1932).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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