FINCK, Heinrich, a celebrated German musical composer, of whose life little more is known than that he was of Saxon origin, and that between 1492 and 1506 he was chapelmaster to two successive kings of Poland, at whose court in Warsaw he resided. After this he seems to have retired to Wittenberg in Saxony, where he died. The year of his death, like that of his birth, is uncertain. His works, mostly part songs and other vocal compositions, show great musical knowledge, and amongst the early masters of the German school he holds a high position. They are found scattered amongst ancient and modern collections of songs and other musical pieces. The library of Zwickau possesses a work containing a collection of fifty-five songs by Finck, printed about the middle of the 16th century.

FINCK, Hermann, the nephew of the subject of last notice, has frequently been mistaken for him. The date of his birth (at Pirna in Saxony) also is uncertain, but it has recently been discovered that in 1506 he succeeded his uncle in the position of royal chapelmaster to the king of Poland. After 1553 he lived at Wittenberg, and there, in 1555, was published his collection of “wedding songs.” His most celebrated work is entitled Practica musica, exempla variorum signorum, proportionum, et canonum, judicium de tonis ac quoedam de arte suaviter et artificiose cantandi continens (Wittenberg, 1557). It is of great historic value, but very rare. The Paris library, the Vienna court library, and the Prague library possess a copy each, and there are three or four copies in the royal library at Berlin.