Finck was born at
Bethel, Missouri, and raised in
Portland, Oregon, where he was taught
piano and
violoncello. He taught himself Latin and Greek so thoroughly that he was able to enter
Harvard as a sophomore in 1872. At Harvard, he studied philosophy, the classics, and music. He graduated in 1876.[2]
He attended the
Bayreuth Festival in 1876, of which he wrote accounts for newspapers and magazines. The Harris
fellowship from Harvard being awarded to him, he spent three years (1878–1881) in the study of physiological psychology in
Berlin,
Heidelberg, and
Vienna.[2]
He became musical editor of the New York Evening Post in 1881 and was on the editorial staff of the associated journal, The Nation. He was connected with them for forty years. While at the Post, he also served as the epicurean editor and reviewed all the new garden books.[2] He taught music history at the
National Conservatory of Music of America for 30 years.[5]
Publications
The Gastronomic Value of Odours (1886)
Romantic Love and Personal Beauty (New York, 1887)
Gardening With Brains: Fifty Years' Experience of a Horticultural Epicure[9] (1922)
Musical Laughs: Jokes, Tittle-tattle and Anecdotes Mostly Humorous About Musical Celebrities Gathered during his Forty-Three Years as Critic of the New York Evening Post (1924)