[1] Tayau made his debut at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens as Pâris, an amorous veterinary violinist,[2] in Six demoiselles à marier, a one-act opérette by Delibes (November 1856) in which he also played the violin,[3] and followed this early the next year with Ramasse-ta-Tête in the premiere of Croquefer by Offenbach,[3] swiftly followed by the dancing master Tityre in Dragonette,[4] and in May that year Arthur in Vent du soir, ou L'horrible festin, before the Bouffes tour to the British Isles.

[3] In Les Petits Prodiges (1857), alongside a cello solo from Léonce and one on the bassoon by Desiré, Tayau was required to execute 'variations excentriques' (eccentric variations) on his violin.

[10] During a spring visit to the Grand-Théâtre in Marseille, during which the Bouffes company performed 23 operas by Offenbach and other composers, Tayau, who was also one of the stage managers, was noted as "premier amoureux comique" (leading comic lover), who undertook his dual role as an "intelligent artist", as well as his violin playing.

[17] The following year he sang Sérapion in the "parade égyptienne" Le Boeuf Apis by Delibes (possibly a parody of Rossini's Moïse or Méhul's Joseph) and was in a revival of Les Petits du premier by Albert.

[19] Alongside Schneider and other company singers he took part in a tour to twenty towns in Ireland, Scotland and England in 1870 organized by the director of the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin.