Theodore M. (Mitchell) Finney, musicologist and educator, was born in Fayette, Iowa, on March 14, 1902. After graduating from the University of Minnesota in 1924, he continued his studies at the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau, the Stern Conservatory in Berlin, and the University of Pittsburgh, earning his Master of Letters degree there in 1938. He taught at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, from 1925 to 1932 and was supervisor of music for the public schools in Council Bluffs, Iowa, from 1933 to 1936. While in Iowa, he was also a lecturer at the Smith College Summer School. From 1936 to 1968 he was professor and head of the music department at the University of Pittsburgh.

Finney retired in 1968 and became curator of the Warrington Collection of Hymnology at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. His career encompassed a wide range of musical interests including composition, performance, research, music education, and librarianship. He played violin in the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra from 1923 to 1925, and was also active as a choral conductor, founding the Heinz Chapel Choir at the University of Pittsburgh in 1939. He died in Pittsburgh on May 19, 1978. He was the brother of composer Ross Lee Finney.

Finney’s publications include A History of Music,1 Hearing Music: A Guide to Music Appreciation,2 We Have Made Music,3 and A Union Catalogue of Music and Books on Music Printed Before 1801 in Pittsburgh Libraries.4 He also served as editor for James Warrington's Short Titles of Books Relating to or Illustrating the History and Practice of Psalmody in the United States, 1620–1820.5

Finney was a prolific composer, creating a number of anthems for the Heinz Chapel Choir, arrangements of other composer’s works, and instrumental music. His principal publishers were Volkwein Bros. and M. Witmark & Sons. His music manuscripts are held in the Finney Music Library at the University of Pittsburgh.

• 1. Theodore M. Finney, A History of Music (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1935; 2nd ed., 1947).
• 2. Finney, Hearing Music: A Guide to Music Appreciation (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1941).
• 3. Finney, We Have Made Music (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1955).
• 4. Finney, A Union Catalogue of Music and Books on Music Printed Before 1801 in Pittsburgh Libraries (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Dept. of Music, 1959; 2nd ed., 1963).
• 5. James Warrington, Short Titles of Books Relating to or Illustrating the History and Practice of Psalmody in the United States, 1620–1820 (Pittsburgh: Clifford E. Barbour Library, 1970).