She was noted for her portrayals of Debussy"s Mélisande and Massenet"s Thaïson She was also noted for her performances of works by Roussel and Ravel. She continued to be closely associated with Poulenc, who in a sense "discovered" her, and undertook many tours with him towards the end of his life as a duo chansons partnership.
Her voice was characterised by a general fragility in strength, an intonational precision marked by a lack of vibrato, and a manner of articulation wherein the delivery of notes lies slightly behind the beat.
She was particularly effective in roles where emotion is ironic or neo-classical in nature, but not explicitly anti-romantic. Among her appearances in America was her 1961 Thaïs at the Dallas Opera, conducted by Nicola Rescigno and directed by Franco Zeffirelli.
She retired from singing in 1965, after a vocal injury. She later taught at the École française de musique.
She died in Switzerland in 2016, aged 94.
Therese in Poulenc"s Les mamelles de Tirésias (3 June 1947)
Elle in Poulenc"s Louisiana voix humaine (6 February 1959).
Duval made her debut as Lola in Cavalleria rusticana in Bordeaux in 1941, and was a member of the companies of the Paris Opéra and Opéra-Comique from 1947 to 1965, when she retired.