The New International Encyclopædia/Balatka, Hans

BALATKA, bä'lȧt-kȧ, Hans (1828—). A musician, born in Hoffnungsthal, Moravia. He studied music in Vienna, and afterwards came to America, and settled in Milwaukee, where in 1851 he founded the Musikverein, which he conducted until 1860. He then became conductor of the Philharmonic Society of Chicago, where he organized the Liederkranz Society and the Mozart Club, and in 1888 became conductor of the Chicago Symphony Society. His compositions are chiefly songs and choruses.