We are delighted to inaugurate the REM@KE Permanent Seminar Series with our first guest speaker, Dr. John Watson, on Friday, February 27, starting at 17:00 CET.

Between Original and Copy:
Observation and Interpretation as Encounter with the Past

In this online seminar, Dr. John Watson will share his extensive experience in the study and reconstruction of antique keyboard instruments. The presentation explores the nuanced and complex role of interpretation in the conservation and reproduction of instruments, and in the value of replication for testing hypotheses about the past. 

These theoretical frameworks will be illustrated through two recent case studies:

• The Mount Vernon Harpsichord: A detailed look at the meticulous reconstruction of George Washington’s unrestored 1793 Longman & Broderip harpsichord, focusing on identifying and interpreting physical evidence toward recovery of the instrument’s original sound and its meaning to makers and first owners.
• The Upright Piano attributed to John Clemm: An analysis of a unique instrument from an American Moravian community with circumstantial but compelling evidence that it bridges the gap to the seminal Hebenstreit-inspired school of piano making in 1720s Dresden.

Recommended readings:

• John Watson. “A 1793 Longman & Broderip Harpsichord and its Replication: New Light on the Harpsichord-Piano Transition. The Galpin Society Journal (2020) pp. 153–172
• John Watson. “A Small Upright Piano from Pennsylvania: Relic from the Origins of the Piano and Made by John Clemm?” Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society (2022) pp. 5–29 
• John Watson. “An Eighteenth-Century Harpsichord Workshop Contributes Two Important Technologies” in Eighteenth-Century Woodworking Tools: Papers Presented at a Tool Symposium. Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (1997)

Invited speaker Bio: 

John Watson, Emeritus Conservator at Colonial Williamsburg, is a specialist in the history and conservation of keyboard instruments. He authored Artifacts in Use: The Paradox of Restoration and built 34 reproduction instruments. In retirement, his focus is the online Musical Instrument Research Catalog (MIRCat.org), designing and hosting its open-access library and databases including EarlyPianos.org and Boalch.org for harpsichords and clavichords. For his significant contributions to the field, Watson was honored with the Curt Sachs Award in 2020 and the Anthony Baines Memorial Prize in 2024. John Watson is a member of the Board of Experts within the project REM@KE. Read more here: https://remake.unipv.it/persone/john-watson/

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