Franca Duval

Franca Duval (born 1925) is an American soprano.
Born in New York City to parents who had immigrated from Italy, Duval began her career in San Francisco. In 1950 she appeared at La Scala in "Raskolnikoff" by Heinrich Sutermeister; she remained a member of that company for several years, singing roles such as Zerlina and Blonde and substituting at times for both Maria Callas and Renata Tebaldi as Violetta in "La traviata". From 1957 she sang much in France, appearing in cities such as Lille, Nice, Rouen, and Vichy as well as Algiers (1957–58) and Paris (1959–60, at the Opéra-Comique). With Franco Corelli, she appeared in the title role of a 1956 film adaptation of "Tosca" by RAI; her voice was dubbed for the film by Maria Caniglia, reputedly because Tosca was a role which she had yet not sung professionally; she added it to her repertory in Santa Fe in 1960. Duval is closely associated with the title role in Gian-Carlo Menotti's opera "Maria Golovin", which she created for Brussels in 1958. She sang the role on Broadway as well, and appeared on the original cast recording and in the NBC Opera Theatre production in 1959. Later in her career she turned to teaching.