From a Donizetti bicentennial concert, Del Terzo studios in Carnegie Hall Towers, 1997. The picture is of Adolphe Nourrit in the role of Guillaume. Auber wrote the first version of many famous operas -- Elisir d'amore (Le Philtre) Ballo in Maschera (Gustave III) Manon Lescaut, even perhaps Il Trovatore -- I once saw a vaguely legible score on the Internet that looked like a libretto from the same Spanish play as Il Trovatore. It's interesting to compare the differences introduced by Donizetti in Elisir d'amore. Elisir concentrates more on sentiment with a dash of personal history -- Donizetti's brother was conscripted by the Austrian army while his own military service was bought off by a rich lady. There is a heroic folk element in Le Philtre that's not in Elisir. The tenor on this recording, a member of St. Jude's Opera Workshop in Manhattan, is perhaps the closest you'll ever get (because of his type of voice and his technique) to Adolphe Nourrit. This is a real singer singing a real role -- too difficult for most modern tenors -- not the plastic people who cover the internet.

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