'Fiddler' lyricist dies at 99

(JTA) - The moment when Sheldon Harnick realized that his new musical might be something special came when he sang the lyrics he had just composed for a new song: "Sunrise, Sunset."

He was sitting in the basement studio of his friend and collaborator, the composer Jerry Bock, in New Rochelle, New York. It was 1961, and they were in the throes of writing "Fiddler on the Roof." Bock had originally meant for the melody to be used for one of the flirtations between Tevye's three older daughters and their male interests, according to "Wonder of Wonders," a book about "Fiddler" by Alisa Solomon.

Har...