Antonin Lancinger (1896-1962)
He was born on July 11, 1896 in Prague, where he died in 1962. Antonin or Anton's father was Josef Lancinger, a Prague goldsmith, and his mother was Anna roz. Pelcová. From birth, he lived in Malá Strana in the famous house called "Na Prádle", where many years ago the famous Prague violinists Tomáš Hulínský and Kašpar Strnad were born. Lancinger trained in the Šámal brothers' company in 1914 and later became a local employee. He worked here until entering military service in 1916. During the First World War, Lancinger served in Prague as a member of the Hungarian Regiment. He opened his own workshop in 1922 in Mělnická street no. 4. He worked at this address until 1935. Then he moved to Plaská street no. 9, where he remained until his death in 1962.
Antonín Lancinger built violins, violas, cellos, guitars and viola d'amore. He built a total of 300 tools. He also spent a lot of time on repairs and restoration work. For thirty-five years he worked as a violinist at the National Theater in Prague and was a founding member of the circle of violin artists. He was very independent and thoughtful in violin making. He solved many problems in the construction of tools in his own way and never copied the opinions of his colleagues. He used the Stradivari and Guarneri del Gesú models, the colour of the varnish was golden yellow to brown. He inked his signature and the year of production on the vignettes, which were machine-printed.
Antonín Lancinger had a son Zdeněk, who was also a skilled Prague violinist.