This collection has no restrictions.
This collection comprises material relating to Douglas Moore's 1951 opera, Giants in the Earth as compiled by Brenda Miller Cooper, who originated the role of Beret. It includes press clippings (of reviews, etc.), a letter to Brenda Miller Cooper from Douglas Moore, a photograph of the cast, programs, a 1951 recording of the opera (on five 78-rpm LPs), and an annotated Ozalid copy of the vocal score.
This collection comprises a single series.
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
This collection has no restrictions.
Single reproductions may be made for research purposes. It is the responsibility of the user to secure permission for publication or use from the appropriate copyright holder.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Brenda Miller Cooper Giants in the Earth Collection; Box and Folder (if known); Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Douglas Moore papers: This collection relates exclusively to Brenda Miller Cooper's performance of Giants in the Earth by Douglas Moore, who was a professor of composition at Columbia University from 1926-1962, and whose papers are housed at the RBML (MS#0896). Further materials relating to Giants in the Earth can be found in boxes 16 and 77 of that collection.
Columbia Theater Associates: Giants in the Earth was produced by Columbia Theater Associates, records of which are also housed at the RBML and which contain production material relating to the opera.
Pulitzer Prizes Collection, at the RBML, contains material relating to the judging of the 1951 Pulitzer Prize in Music, which was awarded to Moore's opera.
This collection was a donation from the family of Brenda Miller Cooper. She collected the materials as she rehearsed and performed the role of Beret in the 1951 premiere of Douglas Moore's Giants in the Earth at the Brander Matthews Theater, Columbia University. These materials were then passed down to her son, Dr. David S. Cooper, who donated them via music librarian Nick Patterson.
Gift of Dr. David S. Cooper (Brenda Miller Cooper's son), July 2023.
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
This collection was processed by Callum Blackmore (GSAS) in July 2023. Finding aid written by Callum Blackmore (GSAS) in July 2023.
The processing of this collection was made possible by a Graduate Internship in Primary Sources from Columbia Libraries.
This collection has been reboxed into metal-edged boxes and some material has been refoldered into acid-free folders. The LPs were originally housed in paper sheets, which were arranged in a large binder: they have been removed from this binder and placed in acid-free housing. The original binder has been discarded. Press clippings that were originally folded have been unfolded. Press clippings were rearranged chronologically within Box 1, folder 2.
Brenda Miller Cooper (1916-2008) was an operatic soprano whose stage career spanned the mid 1940s to the early 1960s. After debuting with the Philadelphia Opera in 1943, she became a regular performer at New York City Opera from 1947. In the early 1960s, a spinal cord tumor forced her retirement from the stage; however, she remained an active force in the American operatic community, teaching voice on the faculty of Montclair State University. She passed away in 2008 in Teaneck, New Jersey.
In 1951, Brenda Miller Cooper originated the role of Beret in the premiere of Douglas Moore's opera, Giants in the Earth, at the Brander Matthews Theater of Columbia University. With a libretto by Arnold Sundgaard (based on the novel of the same name by Ole Edvart Rølvaag), Giants in the Earth tells the story of a family of Norwegian immigrants who attempt to settle on the South Dakota prairie in 1873. The opera was produced especially for the Brander Matthews Theater as part of a series of operas put on by Columbia Theater Associates. It was directed by Felix Brentano and conducted by Willard Rhodes. Moore's score was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for music that same year.
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