How to play with White against Philidor defence?

You should know how to play against the Hanham variation. It is sometimes transposed from the Pirc defense, as shown here. Also here are some of my thoughts:

best response for: 1. e4 e5 2. kf3 d6 3. d4 Be6? as white against Philidor

I always understood that the Opera game was played during The Barber of Seville. The Wikipedia article says Norma, but gives in reference an article by Edward Winter which does quote a source to the effect that Morphy played the Duke during a performance of Norma, but the source goes on to say that the famous game was played during The Barber of Seville. The article concludes that it is impossible to say for certain which.

Bellini's Norma.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norma_(opera)

@blueemu, see my post above yours - Wikpedia is not always to be trusted!

play normal chess for the first couple of moves, nf3 bc4 nc3 d4 0-0, but keep the tension on the center, dont trade on e5 yourself, as that equalizes almost right away.

What i suggest you do is eventually  play a4 and b3. The purpose is two fold. One is that if white stalls for too long, black will play for b5. a4 stops this and if black insists via a6 and rb8 you may play a5!. The second purpose is to dissuade black from trading on d4 because white will play ba3 aiming for the soft d6 square. black will really think twice of solving tension in the center with the bishop on a3.He will also have to constantly watch out for the dxe5 dxe5 bxe7 threat.

the advantage of this idea is psychological. White doesnt allow black either his usual expansion or the flexibility to simplify the position at leisure. He will often be left playing mostly stall move and white will have time to play for more luxurious setups. (aiming for h3 and f4 or nf3-nh4-nf5, or something with rd1 etc). Usually philidor players are the ones that are good at stalling but white can take sweet time playing this way.

My friend played as white against black's philidor defence. He made a video with good notes against the black defence setup. Here is a game of his where he wins against the philidor defence with last move.

>>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTkxNRjyn7E

His youtube channel is called Chess Learning.