REMAKE-ErcProject

Casa
Italia
Cremona
REMAKE-ErcProject

Informazioni di contatto, mappa e indicazioni stradali, modulo di contatto, orari di apertura, servizi, valutazioni, foto, video e annunci di REMAKE-ErcProject, College e università, Corso Garibaldi, 178, Cremona.

03/06/2026

Did you know?

Historical harpsichords were assembled using hot animal glues rather than modern synthetic adhesives. Made from hides, bones, or fish, these glues had to be applied quickly while hot, before they gelled and lost their adhesive strength.

Instrument makers prized them because, once dry, they became exceptionally hard and crystalline, creating strong joints that transmit sound vibrations efficiently without dampening them—an important quality in musical instruments.

Rabbit-skin glue is perhaps the best-known example, but craftsmen also used fish glue, bone glue, and other regional varieties. In Sweden, historical analysis of a glue fragment from a 14th-century saint's shrine in Östra Vrams Church, Skåne, suggests it likely contained a mixture of goat glue and moose glue.

Traditional craftsmanship was quite literally held together by locally sourced animal glue.

In the picture: detail from Lutherie, Ouvrages et Outils, D. Diderot, L’Encyclopédie [ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers], t. 1–17, Paris 1751–1765, fig. XVIII showing an instrument builder’s workshop with glue pot.

European Research Council

Dipartimento di Musicologia e Beni Culturali - Cremona
Università degli studi di Pavia
University of York
Högskolan för scen och musik
University of Gothenburg

29/05/2026

Meet the team: Eleanor Smith-Guido

Eleanor is a musicologist, organologist, and occasional soprano specialising in historical keyboard instruments, organs, and instrument-making history. She completed her PhD on the claviorgan at the University of Edinburgh in 2013.

She has nearly twenty years’ experience working with musical instrument museums, collections, and historical keyboard instruments, and is currently Associate Researcher at the University of Gothenburg on the ERC-funded Rem@ke project, where she works on organological research connected with key-lever function as well as the wider Stein microecology.

Eleanor also teaches a course on the history and development of keyboard instruments for the Università di Pavia.

University of Gothenburg Högskolan för scen och musik
Università degli studi di Pavia Dipartimento di Musicologia e Beni Culturali - Cremona
University of York
Pipes and Strings - Claviorgan Research

European Research Council

27/05/2026

Did you know?

The oldest surviving musical instrument is a 40,000-year-old bone flute found in Hohle Fels cave, Germany, in 2008. Made from a vulture's wing bone with scraped holes, it is 30,000 years older than the wheel or writing. Its design is similar to flutes of other cultures over the world, with a notch on the end where the player blows, representing a highly sophisticated artifact from humanity’s early stages.
To what degree can we access musical knowledge from the past? How is knowledge situated? Learn more about this topic by listening to the Rem@ke Permanent Seminar with Jonathan De Souza, available on our YouTube Channel.

(In the picture: The flute. Foto: H. Jensen. Copyright: Universität Tübingen).

European Research Council

Dipartimento di Musicologia e Beni Culturali - Cremona
Università degli studi di Pavia
University of York
Högskolan för scen och musik
University of Gothenburg

22/05/2026

Recently, Joseph Thornber - PhD Student at the School of Art and Creative Technologies University of York at the University of York and Rem@ke team member -, was offered the opportunity to present his MA work on accessibility within pipe organ playing at the British Institute of Organ Studies British Institute of Organ Studies Bernard Edmonds Research Conference in Birmingham. "I discussed the issues around increasing engagement with pipe organs within young people’s contemporary culture, and also showcased the work I am doing through the REM@KE project to highlight how we are preserving these historical keyboard instruments for future generations. The presentation was warmly received, and there was a great deal of interest in the latest research for physically and digitally restoring instruments. The event was held at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, and there was time to do some keyboard performances afterwards!"

(in the picture: Joseph playing during the conference. Credits: Heather Hammond).

of Arts and Creative Technologies - York
University of York
Högskolan för scen och musik
University of Gothenburg
Università degli studi di Pavia
Dipartimento di Musicologia e Beni Culturali - Cremona

20/05/2026

Did you know?

Some famous historical harpsichords were deliberately “rebranded”. Some instruments attributed to the renowned Ruckers workshop were later shown to be altered, falsified, or even counterfeited.
According to the Musical Instruments Museum in Brussels (MIM Mimbrussels), Ruckers instruments inspired one of the most significant large-scale counterfeiting in instrument making at the time. These modifications could include changing inscriptions, rebuilding parts of the instrument, or adapting it to new musical tastes—making authorship harder to trace.
What we think of as a “single object” can actually be the result of multiple interventions, decisions, and reinterpretations over time. Understanding an instrument means tracing these layers—not just identifying a maker.

(in the pictures: (1) Clavecin ; Ruckers (Andreas II) ; Anvers ; 1646 ; E.979.2.1 ; détail ; marque au nom
Photo: Albert Giordan. Source: Edutheque - Philharmonie de Paris: Ressources musicales pour l'enseignement; (2) Harpsichord by Joannes Ruckers from L'Illustration Journal Universel, 1858 - p.172. Source: Wikimedia).

Dipartimento di Musicologia e Beni Culturali - Cremona
Università degli studi di Pavia
University of York
Högskolan för scen och musik
University of Gothenburg

15/05/2026

Meet the team: Matteo Lombardi

Matteo is a PhD student at the University of Pavia within the Rem@ke research project. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Musicology in 2023, presenting a thesis on the Cadei organ builders of Paratico. In 2025, he completed a Master’s degree in Musicology focusing on musical activity at the Provost Church of San Siro in Soresina. His main research interests concern historical keyboard instruments and issues of performance practice, notably through archival research.
Within the REM@KE project he is eorking on the harpsichord maker Girolamo Zenti, focusing on his production, the distinctive features of his instruments, and his connections with some of the major European courts throughout XVII Century.

Università degli studi di Pavia
Dipartimento di Musicologia e Beni Culturali - Cremona

European Research Council

13/05/2026

At the end of March, Eleanor Smith-Guido and Massimiliano Guido visited the John Crang harpsichord of 1745 (formally a claviorgan) in the collection of St Cecilia's Hall: Concert Room & Music Museum. Thanks to all the curatorial and conservation staff for enabling a day of intensive study of the keylevers of this special instrument - which shows many elements of design that are linked to its combination with the original organ. The focus is on the dynamic behaviour of this interesting keyboard, which has very long keylevers (670mm!).

University of Gothenburg Högskolan för scen och musik
Università degli studi di Pavia .unipv
European Research Council

12/05/2026

The REM@KE Team is pleased to invite you to the 4th session of our Permanent Seminar Series on Friday, May 22, from 17:00 to 18:30 CEST (16:00-17:30 BST).

Join us on Zoom for an insightful lecture by our guest speaker, Robert Bigio (flute maker, researcher and professional flute player based in London, UK), titled: “Reality and fiction in reproducing early flutes”.
In this seminar, we will address thought-provoking questions about the lifecycle and legacy of musical instruments. When we reproduce a historical flute, are we aiming for the pristine version that first left the workshop, or the seasoned instrument it became after years of use?
Robert Bigio challenges our assumptions about the "ideal" model for reproduction, inviting us to consider:
- The Performer’s Impact: Did modifications made by players over time actually improve the instrument’s design?
- The Paradox of Condition: Is an antique flute in "excellent condition" a sign of quality, or was it simply left unplayed because it was a poor instrument?
- The Beauty of Wear: Could a flute in poor condition actually be the ultimate model—an instrument so exceptional it was played nearly to destruction?
By re-examining how we evaluate historical flutes, we may find that we have been looking at early instruments the wrong way entirely.
A Q&A session will follow the presentation.

Register here: https://remake.unipv.it/evento/robert-bigio-permanent-seminar-series-may-22-1700-cest-1600-bst/ or scan the QR code on the flyer.

Dipartimento di Musicologia e Beni Culturali - Cremona
Högskolan för scen och musik University of Gothenburg
University of York
Università degli studi di Pavia

European Research Council

08/05/2026

Laser scanning is an important part of our research for documenting, and therefore analysing and reconstructing, historical musical instruments with high precision. These days, the Rem@KE team in Pavia is carrying out several demonstrations to test the best 3D scanning solutions available on the market, in line with the specific needs of the project. The aim is to identify reliable, non-invasive tools for the digitalisation of historical musical instruments and their components, supporting research, conservation, restoration, and scientific analysis through accurate three-dimensional models.

(In the picture: 3D scanning test in progress. Credits by Jacopo Uberti and Dmytro Nykonenko).

European Research Council

Dipartimento di Musicologia e Beni Culturali - Cremona
Università degli studi di Pavia
Music at York
University of York
Högskolan för scen och musik
University of Gothenburg

06/05/2026

Did you know?
In the UK, nine pipe organs a week are being lost. Within ten years, the number of British pipe organs will halve. British organ societies are shifting from an ‘organ-building’ to an ‘organ-saving’ culture. With the UK government withdrawing tax assistance support, it falls to individuals and communities to continue the work of preserving and building pipe organs. Organisations are supporting the development of individuals through funding courses in organ care and organ club surveyors. In times when the future of British organs is threatened, there are opportunities for all of us to be involved in saving them.

(In the picture: Close-up of the pipes of the organ of Exeter Cathedral, Devon, England. Credits: Dietmar Rabich, WikiCommons).

European Research Council

Università degli studi di Pavia
Dipartimento di Musicologia e Beni Culturali - Cremona
University of York
University of Gothenburg
Högskolan för scen och musik

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