Born in Connecticut and raised in Queens, composer Jerry Bock (1928-2010) enjoyed a successful career of Broadway hits for which he won many accolades. He wrote his first musical, Big As Life, while still an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He returned to New York in 1955, and met lyricist Sheldon Harnick only a couple of years later. Harnick and Bock collaborated on seven musicals over a twelve-year span, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Fiorello! and the blockbuster Tony-sweeper Fiddler on the Roof. Bock remained a presence on Broadway throughout his life, but his output slowed to a trickle after 1970. See more about him at Wikipedia, the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame (of which Bock was a member), Masterworks Broadway, and NPR.
Fiddler on the Roof (1964) tells the story of Tevye, a poor milkman, and his (fictional) community of Anatevka, where the Jewish people live in precarious balance with their neighbors in pre-revolutionary Russia. Tevye watches and reacts as his cherished traditions are both upheld and challenged, largely through the pairings of his three eldest daughters. It ends somberly, as the Jewish population is forced from Anatevka by Russian authorities. The musical won 9 Tony Awards and held the record for longest-running Broadway musical for many years, and it remains the first to achieve more than 3000 performances in one production. It was made into a movie in 1971, and has been revived several times on Broadway. It is also a mainstay for community and school productions. See more at Wikipedia, the current production page, IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, and the National Yiddish Theater Folksbiene.
Warren Barker’s band arrangement of several tunes from Fiddler on the Roof dates from 1997. A complete performance:
It begins with “Fiddler on the Roof,” which mostly shows up as part of “Tradition” in the show:
It continues pensively with “Far from the Home I Love“:
“Matchmaker” is a spritely waltz about the daughters’ feelings on arranged marriage:
“If I Were a Rich Man,” as performed by Zero Mostel (the original Tevye) at the Tony Awards:
“Sunrise, Sunset” has become a standard at weddings and bar/bat mitzvahs. This rendition comes from another Tony’s performance, and is attached to a rousing wedding dance:
Finally, “To Life!“