Maguire and Risley’s Japanese Imperial Troupe

No mention of music. 

“WILLIAM HAZLITT once wrote on coming from the performances of some Indian jugglers. ‘The hearing of a speech in Parliament, drawled by this honorable member or that noble Lord, stirs me not a jot, shakes not my good opinion of myself; but the seeing of Indian jugglers does. It makes me ashamed of myself. I ask what there is that I can do as well as this? Nothing. Is there no one thing in which I can challenge competition, that I can bring as an instance of exact perfection in which others cannot find a flaw? The utmost I can pretend to, is to write a description of what this fellow can do. I can write a book—but so can many others who have not even learned to spell.’ And HAZLITT’S conclusion was that although almost everything else in the world might come to a man by nature, might be perfectly rendered by inspiration—the knack of keepping [sic] four balls revolving in the air, and of swallowing a sword, were matters that could not be accomplished without the severest apprenticeship, and that when once a man has learned either he has attained perfection. There is no opportunity in such cases for self-delusion; neither is there any room for humor, or caprice, or prejudice. ‘If the Indian juggler,’ says the critic, ‘were to play tricks in throwing up his knives, he would cut his fingers. I can make a very bad antibesis [sic] without cutting my fingers.’ So when we are invited to witness the feats of oriental performers, we go with the disposition to enjoy, as HAZLITT did, something where skill after long training surmounts difficulty, and where beauty, finish, perfection—triumphs over skill.   

This enjoyment at the Academy last night was unqualifiedly complete.  People came there with great expectations, predicated upon wonderful reports that had come to them from San Francisco and other places that had witnessed the marvelous works of the Imperial Japanese Troupe, whom Prof. RISLEY has kindly persuaded to tarry with us for a few weeks, en route to the Paris Exhibition; but we risk nothing in asserting that of all that vast assemblage (there must have been at least 3,000 persons in the house,) if there was one individual who went away unwilling to confess that the promises made in the small bills were not more than redeemed, he ought to emigrate from this to some other sphere, where, possibly, there is something left to astonish him. We have had jugglers and conjurors and necromancers in Yankee land before—but we cannot just now recall any who so completely set all the laws of gravitation at defiance as these curious and ingenious strangers. The revolving pyramid of tubs, the gymnastic evolutions by HAMAIKARAI SADAKICHI and by HAMAIKARI MIKISHI, (we like to be particular about names,) are spectacles that one’s hair might be forgiven for standing erect for, were they not so deftly and so delicately done. The juvenile ‘All Right’ is a prodigy of prodigies—we doubt whether he has a bone in his body. He can whip himself at one moment into a flopping turtle, and the next, with all the agility of an ape, mount to the top of a bamboo pole, nicely poised on the right shoulder of ZUMIDANGWA MATZUNGORO, at a distance of some thirty feet. There was also some slack-rope dancing, performed in such a manner as to almost persuade one that the rope itself is but a superfluuity [sic], and that the dancer can dance as high up in the air as you please just as well without it. Time and space would fail us, however, to convey anything like an adequate conception of these extraordinary performances, and no less extraordinary performances. We see that they have been advertised as two hundred years ahead of anything of the kind we have ever had in this country, but it is a question whether America or Europe has ever had, at any time, their prototypes.  We take it for granted that they will be the ‘sensation’ of the town as long as they are here. The audience that greeted them last night was distingue as well as numerous. Miss KELLOGG occupied one of the proscenium boxes.” 

“The Japanese jugglers and acrobats gave last evening their second performance in this city before an audience remarkable for its brilliancy of toilette and the general distingue style which characterizes assemblages composed of our first citizens. The performance was in every way worthy of the commendation it received at the hands of the immense audience. The programme comprised feats of balancing, legerdemain, slack rope dancing, tumbling and general gymnastic evolutions, among which were many feats never before witnessed in this country, and far superior in completeness and finish to any similar performances by our professional gymnasts. The main features of the performance of this troupe are entirely different from what we are accustomed to note as characteristic of similar entertainments by our own people. On the rising of the curtain the spectator has presented to his view the unique picture of a dozen or more Oriental individuals, in queer but magnificent costumes, kneeling on the stage in a body, and gravely bowing their heads to the floor in salutation. Without ado the real work of the evening is shortly begun by two boys, under the direction of a garrulous master of ceremonies, going through a severe exercise in ground tumbling and contortions that are really wonderful to behold. This is followed by a remarkable feat of balancing, which sends a thrill through the audience and creates the first furor of the evening. In this act Sadakichi, the chief of the troupe, balances a long pole on his shoulder, and while he is also engaged in playing an air on a Japanese musical instrument, his son, a bright little fellow known as ‘All Right,’ ascends the pole and performs a series of most remarkable gymnastic feats in midair. As a feat of balancing, this alone, one of the minor feats of the performance, by far excels anything that has been seen in this city. . . .” [remaining acts are reviewed, but no further mention of music]

“‘Standing room only,’ would hardly give an idea of the immense house that greeted Risley & Maguire’s troupe of Japanese last night at an establishment where empty benches were more often the rule than the exception before. The enchanted ladder, with the sprightly little ‘All Right’ om top of it, and his muscular limbed father beneath it, both of them endeavoring to refute Sir Isaac Newton’s theory of the centre of gravity; the slack rope on which another of the ‘far Down Easters,’ with an unpronounceable name, makes frantic attempts to break his neck without the aid of a balancing pole; the top which spins as well on the edge of a sword, a thread or a bamboo cane as on the ground; the paper butterflies, which evince as insatiable curiosity and fondness for examining and perching upon everything as their bright winged namesakes; the extraordinary feats of legerdemain, and in particular the Japanese ‘music of the future,’ marvelously like some of Liszt and Wagner’s orchestral productions (fully as harmonious at least), were objects of novelty and interest, and certainly ahead of the Anglo-Saxon acrobatic age, perhaps even the couple of centuries announced on the bills.”

"Aside from the feats performed by the Japs, you will much amused at the lingo and customs of these dark people, while their music will give Tom Baker an idea for his next medley. . . . “ 

The house was well filled and the audience was enthusiastic about the performance.

[detailed description of the acts presented] “Their performances are occasionally accompanied by native music, which is of that eccentric nature, which defies description.  One instrument is like a very attenuated banjo; another like an hour glass; and another bears a strong resemblance to an oyster barrel.  Anything like harmony according to our mistaken notions is not to be extracted from any one of these Japanese musical inventions. . . .”

Although the audience’s dress is not as fancy as the opera audience, the enthusiasm for the performance is the same. The Japanese orchestra creates interesting sounds with a very simple string instrument similar to the banjo, 2 drums and two wooden sticks beaten together.