Karl Adam Hörlein (1829-1902) learned violin-making in Würzburg under Jean Cornelius Vauchel, a luthier well-known in his time but now mostly forgotten. He worked as an assistant to Gabriel Lemböck in Vienna before setting up shop in 1853 in Kitzingen, Bavaria, returning to Würzburg in 1866. He is best-known for his production of the Ritter viola alta, of which he made the first and probably a plurality of succeeding examples, at least some of which may have been produced by Markneukirchen cottage industry and finished in Hörlein's shop. On his death in 1902, his business became the property of Phillip Keller, who finished, made, or had made another seventy or so examples.
