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In trying to tag this, I run into a problem. It isn't listed in Grove, although the "subtitle" (Les nuits d'été à Pausilipper) is a cycle of 12 songs. It is more likely that Le départ is a song in the cycle, but preliminary searching reveals that none of the 12 songs has such an incipit. In looking up the poet, Louis Crevel de Charlemagne, Le départ has an incipit of 'Adieu, tu vois mes larmes', and none of Donizetti's cycle has that title either.

I'm quite sure the uploader has made a mistake here somewhere, but I can't quite work out where.

Anyone know this work well enough to say whether it really belongs to Les nuits?

The title may be "Le départ...", but as the glorious site recmusic.org shows, it isn't part of the cycle "Nuits d'été à Pausilippe" (without an article), which, despite of the French title has Italian texts (one exception: Victor Hugo). But why should it be by Donizetti? The music sheet doesn't show his name. Well, "Accompagnement de Guitare par J. Vimeux" doesn't mean, that he is the composer too. And: No. 9. Nocturne isn't correct either, because "Nocturne" is only the subtitle. But what is the unreadable rest after the word "NOCTURNE"? A lot of questions about such a spurious work.

Thanks for noticing that, at least it gives me another (long) avenue to pursue. Sounds like some publisher (or composer) wanted a more famous name to increase sales . . . .

A piece "Le départ du Volontaire" by Donizetti is listed here, as a chant guerrier à deux voix (war song for two voices) ; it is marked for piano and not for guitar ; it was one of the scores of the Bibliothèque catholique de Termonde (Belgium) in 1847.
The version on IMSLP, which is for guitar, seems to be an adaptation by Joseph Vimeux, a minor composer of romances and arrangements for guitar, who died in 1847.
The words difficult to read on the score after "Nocturne" are "à deux voix" (for two voices).

Napoléon Crevel de Charlemagne wrote the texts of many French romances, but he was also known for his (singing) translations, from the German and from the Italian. This may be the case here, although he also had some of his original poems set to music, in French, by Italian composers (e.g., as far as I remember, Bellini and Rossini).
Anyway, I don't [EDIT: didn't...] see the link between this score and Nuits d'été à Pausilippe (where is that "subtitle"?).
As Jean-Séb said, there is also certainly no link, except the common lyricist, and the first two words of the title, between Le départ by Rossini and Le départ du volontaire by Donizetti.
Here (Thanks Google, in France we can not read but 2 lines of the text ) it seems that it is indeed a 'translation' , of L'alito di bice, () first words 'O profumo delicato', notturno a due voci sul testi di F. Puoti... which is No.9 of Nuits d'été à Pausilippe !

Thank you, everyone, for your replies. The more I research this, the "curiouser and curiouser" it gets. According to The Lied, Art Song, and Choral Texts Archive (http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/get_text ... xtId=11244), Crevel's text is based on an earlier one by Metastasio, so while it isn't a direct translation, it isn't wholly original either. The problem is that the text to the "Donizetti" arrangement by Vimeux is:

Le tambour au loin resonné!
dans les airs le bronze tonne
Ah! la force m'abandonne
adieu frere il faut partir
que l'honneur toujours
le rien sois intrépide sache vaincre
vaincre ou bien mourir

le tambour au loin resonné
dans les airs le bronze tonne
Ah! la force m'abandonne
adieu frere il faut partir
sur lui veille le sainte madone
Ah! la force m'abandonne
adieu frere il faut partir
le tambour au loin resonné
dans les airs le bronze tonne
adieu adieu! adieu!
****************************

And the text to the Crevel as given by The Lied, Art Song and Choral Texts page is:

Adieu, tu vois mes larmes,
Nice, reçois ma foi,
Adieu, dans les alarmes,
Je vivrai loin de toi.

A la tristesse livré sans cesse
Mon sort m'accablera. Mais si ton coeur m'appelle,
toujours fidèle
Le mien te répondra

A tes cotés, ma belle, ton regard
me verra. Adieu, moment d'alarmes,
Nice reçois ma foi,
adieu, combien de larmes je répandrai loin de toi!
**********************************

So to start with, we may have a misattribution on both composer and text. The reference to Nuits d'été à Pausilippe is not on the music itself, but the uploader typed it in as the "Alternative Title" on the work page. Given that no.9 seems to talk about perfume, and the Vimeux is talking about drums, I'm not sure that subtitle is correct.

JeanSeb's reference to the Chant de Guerre seems more apt, though that reference only says "Donizetti", and not specifically Gaetano.

Gaetano's elder brother Giuseppe was also a composer. According to Grove Music, he spent time in the army as a musician, and his compositions were mostly occasional pieces including marches and anthems. At the moment, my bet would be on him as the composer of this, though I have no idea how to confirm it.

Stelts, there is definitely no link between "Le départ" ('Adieu, tu vois mes larmes') and "Le départ d'un volontaire" ('Le tambour au loin résonne' [not 'resonné']); the one on recmusic is a (free...) translation from Metastasio, (i) set in music by Rossini, or (more probably) (ii) written on the music written by Rossini on the Italian original.

Follow my link: in Centenaire de Gaetano Donizetti: Catalogue bibliographique de la section francaise à l'exposition de Bergame there is an entry saying:

Départ d'un volontaire (Le). Nocturne à deux voix.
(Voir : [i.e. See:] L'Alito di bice).

The book is a "bibliographical catalogue of the French section at the Bergamo exhibition" held in honor of Gaetano Donizetti's 100th birthday.

Unfortunately, although yesterday I could read what I quote, today I can't (thanks to Google's bizarre and stupid restrictions). Can you?
[EDIT: There is a 'google e-book' version that I can read... only through a proxy. What I quoted is on p. 98, after no.357.
L'Alito di bice is on p. 91, No. 331 (pub. 1836), refering to Nuits d'été à Pausilippe. See also No.316.]

The score's uploader should have had access to similar information.
Here also there is a refererence of (a) Donizetti being the composer this piece.

So I think there is sufficient evidence to link "Le départ d'un volontaire" with "L'alito di bice" (both 2-voice "notturnos"), although the text doesn't have the same meaning... This kind of mis-translation were not so rare at that time. Try the Italian text given by recmusic on the French version's rhythm, it fits very well.

Your theory about Giuseppe Donizetti being the composer, because he was a military, and the Crevel text is about drums and war... this is charming, but (imho) far from our case. Giuseppe spent his life training military bands in Turkey.... far from galant notturnos like this one

Jean-Séb wrote:A piece "Le départ du Volontaire" by Donizetti is listed here, as a chant guerrier à deux voix (war song for two voices) ; it is marked for piano and not for guitar ; it was one of the scores of the Bibliothèque catholique de Termonde (Belgium) in 1847.
The version on IMSLP, which is for guitar, seems to be an adaptation by Joseph Vimeux, a minor composer of romances and arrangements for guitar, who died in 1847.
The words difficult to read on the score after "Nocturne" are "à deux voix" (for two voices).

"Please would you give the source of your information on the date of death of Vimeux (1847)"