Not long after his death Franz Geissenhof (1753-1821) was being honored with the title "the Stradivari of Vienna"; today he is considered the leading violin maker of the Vienna Classic period. His career overlaps those of Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven, and his instruments are thus ideally suited to performing the works of that era. Geissenhof was also the first luthier in Vienna to recognize the tonal qualities of Italian violins, and to incorporate details of their construction in a purposeful manner in the violin model that he developed.

In the introductory chapters, Rita Steblin examines the circumstances of Franz Geissenhof's life as well as the biographies of members of the Thir and Dalinger families connected to him by marriage and profession. The subsequent texts by Rudolf Hopfner discuss details of construction in Geissenhof's work as well. The catalogue section features a comprehensive presentation of 18 instruments from various stages of Geissenhof's career as well as numerous molds, templates and other tools and implements from his workshop. To round out the picture, the cataogue section also discusses selected instruments by Geissenhof's contemporaries.