In 1955, Franz Josef Hirt (*1899 Lucerne - †1985 Bern) published his book: "Meisterwerke des Klavierbaus" (Masterpieces of piano-making)

Corinna and Claudius Hirt kindly made this photo of their father available for this page.

"The goal was to make this part of Western cultural heritage accessible to the musician and music friend in his variety in the form of a beautiful illustrated book," the author says, and his introduction introduces a meaning of Vitus de Trasuntino:

"RENDO LIETI IN THE TEMPO GLI OCCHI EL CUORE"

This work was the starting shot for interdisciplinary research on the cultural history of keyboard instruments, which usually starts with the collection of preserved documents.