Francisco Granados

He made his first public appearance when still an amateur, in a concert for the benefit of tenor Rafael Bezares, at the Gran Teatro in Córdoba. Then he studied voice in Madrid and with Angelo Masini in Russia.

His actual debut was in August 1908 as Turiddu at the Teatro Chiabrera in Savona. For his entire career (which lasted into the 1920s), as far as it developed in Italy, he sang almost exclusively at small theaters – either in the provinces (Schio, Lonigo, Arezzo, Cesena, Città di Castello and so on), or in secondary venues in the larger cities: in Naples, at the Mercadante and not at the San Carlo; in Parma, at the Reinach and not at the Regio; in Venice, at the Rossini and not at La Fenice; in Bari at the Piccinni and not at the Petruzzelli, and so on. The one single exception was the Teatro Costanzi in Rome, where he sang Edgardo in April 1898.

Outside Italy, it was partly different. While in Barcelona, he sang at the Novedades (and hence at a small theater, just like in Italy), but he was Rodolfo, Don José and Edgardo at the Teatro Real in Madrid (December 1901/January 1902); he sang at the respective Teatro Principal in Valencia (1904) and Palma de Mallorca (1903), at the Paleis voor Volksvlijt in Amsterdam and the Gebouw voor Kunsten en Wetenschappen in Den Haag (both 1905). In Lisbon, however, he sang at the Coliseu dos Recreios (1912), and in Munich at the tiny Gärtnerplatztheater (1903).

His repertory was rather small:
- Cavalleria rusticana: Turiddu (role debut: Savona, Teatro Chiabrera, August 1896)
- Pagliacci: Canio (Genova, Politeama, spring 1897)
- Silvano: Silvano (Genova, Politeama, spring 1897)
- Faust: Faust (Parma, Reinach, fall 1897)
- Rigoletto: Duca (Parma, Reinach, fall 1897)
- Lohengrin: Lohengrin (Pavia, Fraschini, December 1897)
- Lucia di Lammermoor: Edgardo (Roma, Costanzi, April 1898)
- Mignon: Wilhelm Meister (Bologna, Duse, 1898)
- Bohème: Rodolfo (Codogno, Sociale, 1898)
- Favorite: Fernand (Bari, Piccinni, early 1899)
- Gioconda: Enzo (Bari, Piccinni, early 1899)
- Carmen: Don José (Napoli, Mercadante, March 1899)
- Il cieco (by Candiolo): Nemo (Rovigo, Sociale, May 1899)
- Puritani: Arturo (Rovigo, Sociale, May 1899)
- Trovatore: Manrico (Palma de Mallorca, Principal, December 1903)
- Andrea Chénier: Chénier (Valencia, Apollo, January 1904)
- Huguenots: Raoul (Valencia, Principal, July 1904)
- Lo schiavo di Cleopatra (by Edoardo Bellini): Anubias (Milano, Dal Verme, January 1905, world premiere)
- Africaine: Vasco da Gama (Malta, Royal Opera House, late 1905)
- Otello: Otello (Malta, Royal Opera House, early 1906)
- L'ebreo (by Apolloni): probably Adèl-Muza (Malta, Royal Opera House, early 1906)
- Ballo in maschera: Riccardo (Malta, Royal Opera House, early 1906)
- Ernani: Ernani (Malta, Royal Opera House, early 1906)
- Samson et Dalila: Samson (Malta, Royal Opera House, early 1906)
- Forza del destino: Alvaro (Catania, Principe di Napoli, February 1907)
- Aida: Radames (Lisboa, Coliseu dos Recreios, spring 1912)

Towards the end of his career, he sang zarzuela in Spain. And I bet he must also have sung Chatterton somewhere (cf. the below discography). His records, by the way, are true rarities. In most of the Chatterton selections, he just cues for his partners, who not only get much more to sing but also are (with the notable exception of Ines De Frate) much superior to him.

Gramophone, Milano, May 1908
11201b	Chatterton (Leoncavallo): Vedeste Mistress Clark?	54390
	w. Cigada, Federici, Quinzi-Tapergi
11202b	Chatterton (Leoncavallo): Alfin, buondì			54388
	w. Santoro, Cigada
11203b	Chatterton (Leoncavallo): John, dite che ci apprestino	54391
	w. De Frate, Cigada, Quinzi-Tapergi
11205b	Chatterton (Leoncavallo): Lord Clifford qui desidera	54389
	w. De Frate, Cigada, Quinzi-Tapergi
11209b	Chatterton (Leoncavallo): Là, là presso a quel tavolo	54393
	w. Santoro
11211b	Chatterton (Leoncavallo): Son certo ch'ei dorme		54392
	w. Santoro
11212b	Chatterton (Leoncavallo): È finita, mio Dio		54394
	w. Federici
11214b	Chatteron (Leoncavallo): Ah, Mistress			54396
	w. Cigada
11215b	Chatterton (Leoncavallo): Che parli mai			54395
	w. Federici
11216b	Chatterton (Leoncavallo): Tu sola a me rimani, o poesia	2-52688
1461c	Chatterton (Leoncavallo): Dacchè sei giunto		054235
	w. Cigada, Federici, Quinzi-Tapergi
1463c	Chatterton (Leoncavallo): Skirner! Qui! Voi stesso!	054239
	w. Gaetano Pini-Corsi
1465c	Chatterton (Leoncavallo): Signori, vi presento		054234
	w. De Frate, Cigada, Quinzi-Tapergi
1470c	Chatterton (Leoncavallo): Gli amici suoi perché		054236
	w. De Frate, Federici

Pathé, Milano, about 1911
84180	L'Africaine (Meyerbeer): O paradiso			84180, 10119, 5290

Source for the biography, picture and discography: the fantastic website of Roberto Marcocci; additions to the discography from Gesellschaft für historische Tonträger, Wien.
Ashot Arakelyan has contributed the recording: thank you!