Finger, Gottfried

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Finger, Gottfried

Finger, Gottfried, Moravian composer; b. prob-ably in Olomouc, c. 1660; d. Mannheim (buried), Aug. 31, 1730. After traveling in Italy, he made his way to England, where he was an instrumentalist in the Roman Catholic chapel of King James II (1687–88). He subsequently was active as a composer of incidental music for the London stage, and also wrote operas. He left England in 1704, in 1706 entering the service of Duke Karl Philipp of Neuburg in Breslau, where he remained until 1723.

Works

DRAMATIC Opera: The Rival Queens, or The Death of Alexander (also known as Alexander the Great-London, 1696 or 1703; with D. Purcell); The Virgin Prophetess, or The Fate of Troy (London, May 15, 1701); Der Sieg der Schonheit iiber die Helden (Berlin, 1706; in collaboration with Greber and Strieker; not extant). I n c i d e n t a l M u s i c : To plays by Congreve, Dryden, Shakespeare, Cibber, and others; masques, odes, and serenades. OTHER: Much instrumental music, including numerous sonatas.—NS/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire