Louis Vitak

Czech-American composer, music educator, and music publisher (born November 27, 1862 in Janovice, Bohemia, Austria Hungary [now Czech Republik] - died 1933 in Chicago, IL, USA) Vitak emigrated to the U.S. in 1881. He settled in Canton, Ohio, where he worked as a music teacher for wind and stringed instruments and ran a musical instrument store. Active in the local community, he composed marches for Canton’s Grand Army of the Republic Band, such as the "Duke Albrecht March" (1894). From 1896-1897, he served as a violin professor at Mt. Union College in Alliance, Ohio. In 1902, Vitak moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he and Otto Georgi founded a new music store and publishing company, Georgi & Vitak Music Company that successfully focused on publishing Bohemian-style polkas, marches, etc. In 1924, a new partner, Joseph P. Elsnic, joined, and the company became the Vitak-Elsnic Company. Vitak himself retired in 1926.