[
    {
        "id": 211783,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1989",
        "page_number": 198,
        "title": "RAS-1989",
        "content_text": "173\n\nat Shanghai\" occurred on Friday September 19 1856\" and by a remarkable coincidence it also marked the introduction of a brand new instrument to the China Coast music lover, viz the Saxophone. This, though, was not how it was announced. The artist, Ali Ben Sou Alle, who had studied at the Paris Conservatoire and made a career in France and England as a clarinetist, was of Turkish descent and had seen fit to rename the instrument invented by Adolphe Sax in 1840 into something recalling his fatherland: the Turkophone. He had made a tour through Asia and in Hong Kong his success had not been unequivocal.\" In Shanghai, reception was somewhat mixed (cf Calendar: 19.9.1856). Apart from the \"Turkophone” he handled the \"Turkophonini” (which may have been the soprano saxophone), the clarinet, and an instrument \"which we trust our Scottish friends will pardon us for pronouncing something worse than the bagpipe”. \n\nAs details of the activities of other artists that visited Shanghai will be found in the Calendar of Performances it seems hardly necessary here to elaborate on them. But attention should be drawn to the first lady singer\" who engrossed the public there in July 1863: Miss Amelia Bailey. On a second trip some months later, in October and November, she drew \"crowded houses small wonder in a place with so many soldiers and bachelors.\n\nIV. The Actors\n\n>72\n\nJ\n\nFor those that did not belong to the taipan class, that is, those not partners in a firm but lower mercantile assistants, the freedom to engage in whatever activities they wanted in their spare time was limited. Employees out on their first term called griffins were usually not allowed to marry because the firm did not feel like paying for home leave for an entire family. Another restriction put in their way was that commonly there was a clause in their contract which ran: \"All horse and pony racing, or riding in races, and all acting in public theatricals is forbidden without the consent of the resident partner”.73\n\nHere the reasons were partly financial as the employers feared that the youngsters might be carried away with the rehearsals, with disadvantageous consequences for the job they were supposed to do; and partly social, in that the senior merchants were perhaps afraid that the juniors would prove to be more popular on the stage than they themselves. Of those that were permitted and willing to don sock and buskin it is",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 211825,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1989",
        "page_number": 240,
        "title": "RAS-1989",
        "content_text": "215\n\nProgramme:\n\nC.M. Von WEBER: \"Der Freischütz\", overture; by Messrs Essex and Ewing, piano. Sir Henry BISHOP: \"Foresters sound the cheerful horn“ (glee). Heinrich PROCH (1809-1878): \"Within the grove's deep shadow\", a song by Mr. J.P. Tate, W.A. MOZART: String quartet No 7 by Messrs Tate and Howell (violin). Ewing (viola) and Essex (cello). William HORSLEY (1774-1858); \"By Celia's Arbour\" (glee), F. MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY: \"Andante, presto and allegro vivace\" (from?) by Messrs Essex and Howell. Ibidem: “Andante and finale\" (from?), by Messrs Essex and Howell, Sir Henry BISHOP: \"Sleep gentle lady\" (glee), William Vincent WALLACE (1813-1865); **The Bellringer\", a song by Mr. Essex, F. von FLOTOW: “Allessandro Stradella\", fantasia, by Messrs Essex and Howell, William HORSLEY: \"See the chariot at hand\", song, L. van BEETHOVEN: \"Egmont\", overture, played on two pianos by Messrs Essex and Ewing.\n\nTh: Theatre Royal (G)\n\nR: This was the first occasion on which the names of the amateur musicians who entertained the public were mentioned. Some can be traced in the **Shanghai Almanac for 1862”. others belonged to the military forces. Thus the names have come to us of the following gentlemen: H. Cope and E.C. Essex (both of Geo. Barnett & Co). D.A.C.G. Ewing. F.R. Gantwell (Silk broker), A.A. Hayes Jr (of Olyphant & Co), Howell, Inglis, J.M. Nixon (of Blain, Tate & Co). J. Priestley Tate (of Blain, Tate & Co; Municipal Council member 1861-1862) and J. Wheatly (of Reiss & Co). In general the Herald was very satisfied: \"It was pleasing to see the gentlemen who volunteered to throw aside for the nonce the cares of business and entertain con amore their less gifted fellow residents with a charming chamber concert. Everything was conducted in a quiet gentlemanly manner so that we imagined ourselves in a drawing room more than a theatre. There was no attempt at grandeur of display or extraordinary performance on special instruments which characterize 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 the former\". These were rather stringent remarks for someone living in an area where very few opportunities arose to compare musical qualities of instrumentalists. Yet the argument of faithfulness to the author's or composer's intentions crops up from time to time and that was obviously regarded as important by the Herald. Unfortunately the acoustics of the theatre were not of the very best so that \"Mr. TATE's delicate tenor voice (in the song by Proch) could not fill the house sufficiently for all to hear the diminuendo passages of his beautiful voice\". (NCH 18.4.1863). The Lancashire Relief Fund had been established in order to help those in Britain who had become a victim of the stoppage of cotton imports from the Southern states of America (due to the Civil War), with the result that numerous labourers in the mills were laid off.\n\n29.4.1863 (Wedn)\n\nPerformances by the amateurs of the Royal Artillery.\n\nNo titles of plays were recorded.\n\nTh: Theatre Royal (G)\n\nR: In consequence of the \"great success\" a \"Second Fashionable Night” would be given on May 4th (NCH 2.5.1863).\n\n4.5.1863 (Thur)\n\nAs on 29.4.1863.\n\n1.8.1863 (Sat)\n\nThe last of a series of performances by Mr. Smythe's company. Soloists: Miss Amelia Bailey (singing) and Martin Simonsen (violin) Th. N.N. (H)\n\nPage 240\n\nPage 241",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 211826,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1989",
        "page_number": 241,
        "title": "RAS-1989",
        "content_text": "216\n\nR: Nearly five years after his last recital in Shanghai, Martin SIMONSEN returned to the port, this time as a member of \"Mr. Smythe's troupe\". There was also the novelty of a lady singer, Miss Amelia BAILEY, who \"could not fail to render the entertainment attractive even had her voice been less excellent than it is\". This was the last night of a series for which public interest had not been particularly large; only on July 31st had there been an \"excellent house\" and in a reproaching comment, the Herald trusted that the company would \"meet with more uniform support at Hong Kong, the residents of which are reputed more willing to put up with a little heat for the sake of an evening's amusement\". (NCH 1,8,1863).\n\nOctober 1863\n\nOn October 24, the North China Herald informed its readers that \"the Circus Company announced more than a year ago as upon its way to Shanghai has at length arrived and promises to be a valuable means of dispelling the ennui inseparable from winter in China\".\n\n17.10.-23.10.1863\n\nA series of promenade concerts by Miss Amelia Bailey (singing) and Marquis Chisholm (piano), as well as the Rhenish Band.\n\nTH: N.N. (H)\n\n7.11.-13.11.1863\n\nA continuation of the concerts mentioned above.\n\nR: In spite of the meagre support met in Shanghai, the Smythe troupe ventured to return in October after a visit to Nagasaki. This time the concerts were more rewarding - financially, for in November it was noticed that “Miss BAILEY has continued to draw crowded houses\" and that she has no reason to complain of the reception she has met in Shanghai\". (NCH 17.10, 24.10, 14.11.1863).\n\n10.2.1864 (Wedn)\n\nE.B. LYTTON: \"The Lady of Lyons\" (1838)\n\nT: Romantic comedy (5 acts)\n\nC: C.R. Faylor's travelling company\n\nTh: Olympic Theatre (H)\n\nR: The port was honoured by a visit of Mr. FAYLOR's theatrical company in February and May. This was after it had toured Macao (in December 1863; see BGM 14.12.1863) and Hong Kong. There it was highly successful, but the first performance in the Yangtze city was unfortunately a failure in consequence of the ludicrous incompetence of that portion of the company which had been collected in Shanghai and pressed into service. The audience, moreover, was riotous in the extreme and displayed the worst possible taste in exciting themselves to increase the confusion on the stage\" (see also Survey, p. 22). (N.C.H. 13.2.1864).\n\n13.2.1864 (Sat)\n\nC. DANCE: \"Delicate Ground\" (1849)\n\nT: Comic drama (1 act)\n\nC. SELBY: \"A Lady and a Gentleman in a Peculiarly Perplexing Predicament\" (1841)\n\nT: Burletta (1 act)\n\nC: C.R. Faylor's travelling company\n\nTh: Olympic Theatre (H)\n\nR: It is not quite clear how many nights were given by the FAYLOR company. The Herald of February 27 states that **it still continues its performances\", but, in view of what had happened earlier, \"naturally enough has not been patronised by any of the ladies resident in the Settlement\". In May, it turns up again in the pages of the paper. (NCH 27.2.1864).",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h",
        "rank": 0
    }
]