the lugert verlag publishing house who developed the forte software is said to have had its beginnings in 1981 when wulf dieter lugert and volker schütz prepared popular music for further education courses. the use of popular music in the classroom was unusual in germany at that time. the operation grew and the publishing house which subsequently became known as "lugert verlag"was formed in 1998, expanding to produce magazines and audio media and to sell musical instruments and other materials. the first version of the scorewriter program "forte" was released in 2005.