Douglas Moore’s Forgotten Opera ‘Giants in the Earth’ Shines Anew in South Dakota

Following a musical proclamation from the mayor and a speech by Norway’s ambassador to the United States highlighting her nation’s historic ties to the Midwest, Jennifer Teisinger, executive director of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, took the stage radiating both surprise and pride.

“How many orchestras can claim to have both the mayor and the Norwegian ambassador present on stage at the same concert?” she remarked from Mary W. Sommervold Hall in Sioux Falls.

Such distinguished attention is rare for orchestral concerts. However, the South Dakota Symphony had a special occasion to celebrate: the revival of Douglas Moore’s opera 'Giants in the Earth' after more than 50 years of silence.

Based on O.E. Rolvaag’s novel, a seminal work chronicling Norwegian settlers establishing roots near present-day Sioux Falls in the late 1800s, Moore’s opera debuted in 1951, earned the Pulitzer Prize for music, yet soon faded into obscurity. The opera was never recorded, and its complete score remained unpublished. A revised rendition surfaced at the University of North Dakota decades later but failed to garner widespread recognition.

Prior to last month’s South Dakota Symphony performances, 'Giants in the Earth' had not been staged since that time. Here, the opera has undergone meticulous restoration: the score has been engraved for the first time and is slated for publication, with a recording underway. Music director Delta David Gier has likened the opera to “a diamond on the side of the road,” now finally polished and displayed.

While not without its imperfections, 'Giants in the Earth' embodies the core of American opera — a sweeping, dramatic exploration of the immigrant experience and the complex identity struggles faced by those who helped shape the nation, themes as relevant today as they were in the 19th century.