Louis Vitak as a young man
Music Publishers of America President Steve Harris today revealed a treasure trove of new personal information on Louis Vitak and his family, due in large part to Rachel Tipton, a Vitak family member, and genealogist.
“For years, I’ve wanted to bring to life Louis Vitak and his family, developing a more personal connection to the man who started the music publishing dynasty that became the Vitak-Elsnic Company,” Harris said. “But official records were sparse. Thanks to Rachel’s dogged genealogical searching and willingness to share family records and oral histories, we now know more about Louis Vitak than ever before.”
Siblings: Anton, Marie, and Louis Vitak
Much of the new information relates to Vitak’s first twenty years of his life in America. Louis Vitak emigrated from Bohemia to the United States in 1881 and settled in Canton, Ohio. He gave instruction in wind and stringed instruments and had a wholesale musical instruments business. Vitak wrote and arranged his first known musical compositions there, marches for Canton’s Grand Army of the Republic Band. According to Tipton, that band was a favorite of William McKinley, a Canton native who went on to be elected President of the United States. In the late 1890s, Vitak also was a violin professor at Mt. Union College in Alliance, Ohio. His Ohio years were formative, and Vitak and his family moved from Canton to Chicago in 1902, where he built his publishing empire.
Louis Vitak with daughters Olga and Albertina
“And thanks to Rachel, for the first time we now have pictures of Vitak and his family,” Harris said. “Rachel has shared three family photos of Louis Vitak as a young man and then later in life. All three show a very determined man.”
Tipton’s research also provided new insights into Louis Vitak’s wife, Augusta, and of Albertina, one of his daughters who went to New York and joined the Ziegfeld Follies. The women in Louis Vitak’s life have amazing stories of their own to tell.
Harris and Tipton presented their findings at a March 31, 2020 virtual meeting of the University Libraries Leadership Council at Ohio’s Bowling Green State University. BGSU’s music library houses the Vitak-Elsnic Collection, the world’s largest collection of archival music published by the Vitak-Elsnic Company, as well as business records and artifacts, including musical instruments. The March 31 presentation can be viewed below as a slideshow.
Bowling Green State University Presentation - March 31, 2020
Dear Vitak Family:
Albertina Vitak Kaelin was my second mother. I grew up in Larchmont NY, and I met Tina when I was about 10. She gave me private ballet lessons in her home on Larchmont Avenue.
She helped me to choreograph a solo for Mr. Danielian’s class. She came to watch my ballet classes at Balanchine’s School of American Ballet. She took me on her yacht to explore Long Island Sound.
She was a good and steady friend to my entire family. She often visited my home. I liked to drive in her fancy car that smelled of leather. She gave me and my three sisters gold and silver jewelry. She offered to pay for my brother’s tuition to Princeton, but my father would not let her.
She moved to Florida, and I moved to Buffalo NY to attend a ballet conservatory. We wrote letters until she seemed to be to old to write. She often sent me boxes of her old clothes with little notes pinned to each one. I particularly liked a beautiful royal blue coat with a wide shawl collar.
I had an impressive dance career learning 9 roles from Bronislava Nijinska, and I performed the “Rag Mazurka” in her ballet “Les Biches” and solos in her “Chopin Concerto” and “Auroras Wedding,”. I toured Europe with Rudolph Nureyev and other guest stars. performing a solo in
“La Sylphide” under the direction of Hans Brenna of the Royal Danish Ballet and dancing solo roles in the Nijinska Ballets . My photo and a review appeared in the London Times. I sent my reviews and news of my career to Mrs. K..
I also danced at the Met and in Germany, where I met my husband Robert, who was playing violin in the orchestra! We came back to the USA, and We both got degrees from Harvard.
My husband was Chair of the department of Music at the University of Mississippi and professor of violin and musicology. We have written about music and dance history together.
When my daughter Diana was born, Tina sent me $10,000. They always cared about me. I went to visit her with my daughter, Diana, in Boca Raton, when she was in her 90s.. She met me
at the door with her walker. She told me that I was still pretty. We talked about my daughter. She was completely lucid and engaged. Afterwards, I met her son, who told me that she had not talked in years.
I feel sad that I did not live closer to her. But I feel that I should be an honorary member of the Vitak Society, sort of an adopted child!
Yours,
Mary Barres Riggs.
Mary,
I am not sure if anyone has responded yet to your note, but first of all thank you for contributing to the personal story about the life of Albertina Vitak. I just came across your note while looking for something else, but am so glad I did.
It would be great to establish contact. Please send me your email address, and we can continue the conversation. We continue to add to the personal stories of the Vitak family, and look forward to learning more.
mbr5383@icloud.com
I am giving a paper in NYC next Saturday morning at Bohemian National Hall on East 73 street.
Yours,
Mary Barres Riggs