Le tableau parlant is an opéra comique

Opéra comique

Opéra comique is a genre of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias. It emerged out of the popular opéra comiques en vaudevilles of the Fair Theatres of St Germain and St Laurent , which combined existing popular tunes with spoken sections...

, described as a comédie-parade, in one act by André Grétry

André Ernest Modeste Grétry

André Ernest Modeste Grétry was acomposer from the Prince-Bishopric of Liège , who worked from 1767 onwards in France and took French nationality. He is most famous for his opéras comiques....

, The French text was by Louis Anseaume

Louis Anseaume

Louis Anseaume was a French librettist.He contributed the words for operas by André Ernest Modeste Grétry , Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny, Egidio Romualdo Duni, Christoph Willibald Gluck, and François-André Danican Philidor...

.

Performance history

It was first performed at the Comédie-Italienne

Comédie-Italienne

Over time, there have been several buildings and several theatrical companies named the "Théâtre-Italien" or the "Comédie-Italienne" in Paris. Following the times, the theatre has shown both plays and operas...

, Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 on 20 September 1769.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, September 20, 1769 (Conductor: - )
Isabelle	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...	Marie-Jeanne Trial
Léandre	tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...	Antoine Trial Antoine Trial Antoine Trial was a French singer and actor. He was the younger brother of the musician Jean-Claude Trial and husband of soprano Marie-Jeanne ....
Cassandre	tenor	Jean-Louis Laruette
Pierrot	tenor	Jean-Baptiste Guignard
Columbine	soprano	Marie-Thérèse Laruette-Villette

Synopsis

In the absence of Isabelle's lover Léandre, Cassandre persuades Isabelle to marry him instead. Cassandre leaves and in the meantime Léandre returns and Isabelle changes her mind. She asks Cassandre's portrait for his agreement to the changed state of affairs, only to find that Cassandre himself is concealed behind the picture.

Sources

• Amadeus Almanac, accessed 6 November 2008
• Tableau parlant, Le by Michael Fend, in 'The New Grove Dictionary of Opera
  New Grove Dictionary of Opera
  The New Grove Dictionary of Opera is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volumes....
  
  ', ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992) ISBN 0-333-73432-7