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concert. Everything was conducted in a quiet gentlemenly manner so that we imagined ourselves in a drawing room more than in a theatre. There was no attempt at grandeur of display (...) which characterises too much the quasi musical taste of the day where the composition of the author is sacrificed frequently to the execution of the performer and the audience is led to think more of the latter than of the former**. "The "Shanghai Commercial Record" reported in a similar laudatory way about the Annual Volunteer Concert on February 15, 1865: “We fancy few home concerts could show anything better; amateur concerts we are sure rarely could".20
However, about professional musicians, and those formed the majority of performers, the critic sometimes made no bones about his disapproval: speaking of a recital given by a Professor Shonbrun on the piano in March 1859, he was "sorry to say we have no great opinion of his powers; the skill and artistic feeling which would be highly respectable in an Amateur reflect no especial credit on a professional player'"; at the same time **the Amateurs who assisted Mr. Shonbrun did their share well and merit great praise". Thus the line was drawn, at least by this particular reviewer.
III. The Companies
A. Theatrical
**21
Writing about the theatrical companies that performed in Shanghai during the period 1850-1865, a distinction must be made between those that were got up from among the local residents, those that were initiated by the military garrison, and those that were of a professional, travelling nature.
The Local Companies
On November 15, 1866, it was proposed at a meeting of the Dramatic Corps of the Infantry and Rangers of the Shanghai Volunteers Corps that “a Dramatic Society be formed",22 and hardly a month later the Shanghai Amateur Dramatic Corps was established on December 7.23 Its objects were stated to be "the encouragement and maintenance of an amateur theatre in Shanghai; the maintenance of a theatrical library and the management of funds for theatrical purposes". There were to be no honorary members but only those who were willing to be active