Leonard Finseth

Leonard Finseth (1911-1991) was a Norwegian-American fiddler from Mondovi, Wisconsin. He was well known for playing Old-time Norwegian dance music in his community, including waltzes, reels, schottisches, and polkas. He also recorded two albums: The Hills of Old Wisconsin and Scandinavian Old Time: Folk Fiddle from Wisconsin and was included in Scandinavian-American Folk Dance Music Vol. 2 and Across the Fields: Fiddle Tunes and Button Accordion Melodies. Other recordings of his music can be found at the Mills Music Library at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Career

Early life Leonard Finseth was born February 11, 1911, in Wisconsin. His father was a lumberjack, who emigrated from Trondheim in Norway as a young man. His mother was a second generation Norwegian-American. Bob Andresen was also the host of “Northland Hoedown,” a popular radio show in Duluth, MN, which featured regional musicians. Some of his music is also housed in the Mills Music Library in Madison, WI. Andresen described Finseth's music as more authentically Norwegian than many of his contemporaries, capturing the spirit of Norwegian music, while also producing something uniquely American. Finseth performed alongside other Norwegian-American tradition-bearers, including a harmonica player, a Hardanger fiddler, a pianist, a rosemaler, and several dancers. He again performed under 'Old Ways in the New World,' which switched focus to different countries each week and contrasted Old World music and crafts, with its New World counterpart. He enlisted in the US Navy on February 1, 1942, and was discharged October 26th, 1945. Finseth described his experiences serving during World War Two in "War Clouds" in 1978.

After the war, Finseth returned to his job at the tire factory and worked there for 35 years, before retiring in 1973.

Finseth died on June 16, 1991.