CD 17
Tyrolean Musical Treasures 15
Johann Georg Plazer, Music-making Company, about 1750
The English viola da gamba virtuoso William Young was in the service of the Innsbruck court for ten years. Reigning at the time was Archduke Ferdinand Karl, who had an artistic vein and plenty of joie de vivre. 1662, when the archduke died, was also the year of William Young’s death in Innsbruck. He was one of the most admired musicians of his day and distinguished as “a master of this art (of playing viola da gamba), few of which are to be found under the sun.” The only composition defi nitely by William Young’s hand to have survived is a printed edition of a collection of sonatas dedicated to his lord, Ferdinand Karl, and published by Michael Wagner in Innsbruck in 1653. The Uppsala University Library in Sweden has the only surviving copy. Following the eleven pieces designated sonatas are some dance movements such as allemand, correnti and balletti. Most of the pieces are scored for three violins, bass viola (viola da gamba) and basso continuo. One characteristic feature of Young’s sonatas is the fugal ending usually marked canzona. William Young was a composer of European stature. The widest variety of stylistic influences from all different countries are combined in his oeuvre, which makes it a perfect refl ection of the colorful cultural world assembled at the Innsbruck court in those days. Young’s works with their beautiful sound were recorded for the fi rst time from 1979 to 1983 by the Tyrolean studio of ORF, the national Austrian radio. They were interpreted by the renowned London Baroque and Musica Antiqua Köln ensembles. We re-mastered these recordings, historic and legendary by now, in an attractive sequence and with the best tonal quality for this CD.
Track 1, 3:37
Sonata settima a 4
William Young
(ca. 1610-1662)