His real name was Francis Valentine Dinhaupt. He been descended from a German American family, which after his birth soon moved to Denver (Colorado). He began his education in Denver, then went to Milan, where he was a pupil of Emilio Piccoli. He made his debut in 1927 at the Teatro Regio in Parma under the name Francesco Valentino as Germont in ‘’Traviata’’. In the 1930-1940's he often appeared at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova, in the 1929-1939 seasons also at the Arena di Verona. On 1. 1. 1938 he sang at La Scala in the premiere of the opera ‘’Margherita di Cortona’’ by Licinio Refice (at the same time his debut in this house). On 29. 4. 1939 he took part at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in the premiere of the opera ’’Re Lear’’ by Vito Frazzi, on 18. 5. 1940 in L. Dallapiccola’s ‘’Volo di notte’’. In the 1938-1939 season he took over during the Glyndebourne festival the title part in G. Verdi’s ‘’Macbeth’’. During his career in Europe he also guested at the operas of Nice and Budapest. In the 1935-1937 seasons he was to be heard at the Italian Opera in Holland. After ten-year-old career in Europe he was engaged in 1940 by the Metropolitan Opera in New York (debut: Enrico in ’’Lucia di Lammermoor’’), where he appeared with success longer than twenty years - now under the name Frank Valentino. Here he had a huge success as Marcello in ‘’La Bohème’’, Rigoletto, Alfio in ’’Cavalleria Rusticana’’, Sharpless in ‘’Madama Butterfly’’, Count di Luna in ‘’Il Trovatore’’, Enrico in ‘’Lucia di Lammermoor’’ and as Germont in ‘’La Traviata’’. In 1952 he sang at the Edinburgh festival again the title part in ‘’Macbeth’’. He made guest appearances also at the San Francisco Opera (1943-1952) and in Mexico City. In 1962 he retired from the stage and worked till 1971 as a pedagogue at the Peabody Conservatory of Music.
Chronology of some appearances
Belcore 12/16/1941, Marcello 3/10/1942, Giorgio
Germont 3/3/1943, Rigoletto 9/28/1943, Giorgio Germont 9/28/1943, Rigoletto
5/10/1944, Lord Enrico Asthon 5/13/1944, Giorgio Germont 5/16/1944, Amonasro
5/8/1945, Sharpless 5/16/1945, Le comte Capulet 12/11/1945, Sharpless
11/26/1946, Il conte d’Almaviva 12/3/1946, Marcello 2/18/1947, Rangoni
3/11/1947, Barnaba 2/3/1948, Il conte di Luna 12/21/1948, Sharpless 11/6/1953,
Roucher 11/23/1954, Il conte di Luna 2/24/1955, Barnaba 10/11/1956, Belcore
1/29/1958, Escamillo 10/9/1958, Il conte di Luna 10/19/1958, Marcello
1/18/1959, Giorgio Germont 11/26/1959, Marcello 2/7/1960, 12/15/1960,
12/14/1961, Sharpless 1/9/1963, Marcello 2/13/1963, 2/13/1964 (Filadelfia).
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NBC Symphony Orchestra 1943/Conductor Toscanini
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