- Profession: Tenor
- Relation to Mahler: Worked with Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) in the Vienna State Opera
- Correspondence with Mahler:
- Born: 20-10-1865 Slovenia, Ljubljana
- Died: 09-08-1939 Vienna, Austria. Aged 73.
- Buried: 14-08-1939 Central cemetery, Evangelical Cemetery, Vienna, Austria. Grave 9-1-36
Born Franz Poga?nik, Naval Pogacnik.
The lyrical tenor first received his education in Ljubljana, but completed it with Josef Gänsbacher in Vienna. The singer made his debut in 1888 at the Stadttheater in Frankfurt am Main and sang in 1895 in Berlin at the Court Opera. In 1898 he received a commitment at the Vienna Court Opera, but he left in 1902 as a result of a quarrel with Gustav Mahler. From the Viennese audience, he said goodbye to Richard in the masked ball (1902) or in a farewell concert in the Musikverein.
It followed in 1903-1904 a season at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and then a renewed commitment in Berlin at the Court Opera and from 1908 the Komische Oper.
Franz Naval was also an important song singer in his time. After the end of his singing career, he lived as a singing teacher in Vienna.
