La fille du régiment

La fille du regiment was Donizetti's first opera written directly to a French text, staged at the Opera-Comique in Paris on 11 February 1840 to a mixed reception; Berlioz reviewed it with hostility, objecting to an Italian composer taking over the French stage. Its fortunes were made by the tenor aria Ah! mes amis, with nine high Cs in quick succession, which turned the role of Tonio into a test of endurance. The opera was translated into Italian later the same year for Milan, in a revised version.