After receiving musical training in his birthplace, Gottfried Finger went to the court of the Prince-Bishop of Olomouc, Karl II von Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn, and to Kremsier (Kroměříž), where his earliest known compositions are preserved. Following a period as a musician in Munich from 1682, he traveled to England, where in 1685 he was admitted to the court orchestra of King James II and became known as Geoffrey Finger. There, in 1687, he dedicated his Op. 1 to the English king. After the king's exile in 1688, Finger began a period as a freelance musician and composer, during which he was one of the leading figures in London's musical life until 1701. He then became a chamber musician in Breslau. After 1702, he worked as a chamber musician at the court in Berlin, and from 1707 as a member of the court orchestra of the imperial governor in Innsbruck, where he became concertmaster in 1708. Gottfried Finger likely retained this position until his death, even after the court moved to Neuburg an der Donau in 1717, to Heidelberg in 1718, and to Mannheim in 1720. He was still listed as a member of the Mannheim court orchestra in 1723.