Career
The sonatas which he published in 1653 were some of the earliest sonatas produced by an English composer. The details of Young"s origins are unknown. By 1652 he was a chamber musician at the Innsbruck court, where "the Englishman", as he was called, was a highly regarded viol player and composer.
The design of his English-made viol influenced that of some of the viols built by Jakob Stainer, the Austrian luthier.
In 1660 Ferdinand Charles granted permission for Young to visit England, but there are no traces of his reappearance there. He is not to be confused with William Young (died 1671), another musician, who played violin and flute at the court of Charles II of England from 1661.
Young died on 23 April 1662 and was buried at Innsbruck"s parish church, Street Jakob, which has since become Innsbruck Cathedral.
