Giovanni Punto (1746 - 1803)

Giovanni Punto, Jan Vaclav Stich, was born in Zehusice/Caslav near Prague September 28th, 1746.

He was one of the horn virtuoso of the 18th century and belonged to those Bohemian musicians who fled from their country. His father let him learn the horn. After the lessons at Joseph Matiega in Prague (with song education) he had lessons at Haudek & Hampel in Dresden.

1768 Stich fled from the bondage of the count Thun and called himself Giovanni Punto to the disguise and to the better musical "marketing". It followed a short employment 1768 in Hechingen, Hohenzoller , 1769 - 1774  employed by the Elector of Mainz and then till 1780 he stood in line in Wuerzburg..

1781 Punto played  in Paris in the chapel of the count Artois . During the French Revolution 1795-97 he was the orchestra director in Paris for the "Variete theater". In 1799 he left Paris.

From 1769 onwards, Punto went on numerous tourneys in Europe and he justified his popularity. Mozart heard Punto during his Parisian stay and was enthusiastic. In the year 1800 he gave concerts in Vienna and Budapest with Beethoven (sonata op.17). 1801Punto returned to Prague, now triumphantly. Giovanni Punto died 2-16-1803 in Prague from "Brustwassersucht (chest dropsy)" a  very frequent wind instrument musician illness at that time. 

Six Quatuors concertant op.1

• Volume 1   1st - 3rd Quartet for Horn, Violin, Bassoon (or Violoncello), Basso

• Volume 2   4th - 6th Quartet  for Horn, Violin, Viola and Basso

These works were published in Paris around 1780 by Sieber (engraved printing number 479 as Oeuvre 1 of Punto).

It is possible that these quartets are also a mixture of compositions of other composers. Punto is known for his generous dealing with attributions. For instance, his Quintets were printed under his name, although two of three were written by other composers. His horn concerto is also known as a compostion of Stamitz or Pleyel.

Here some hints for the misattribution of the quartets: On 16 July 1780, the hornist Franz Joseph Lang from Munich wrote to Rosetti, that he also wanted some quartets composed for him as he had seen the quartets which Rosetti had composed for Punto. .

The instrumentation was certainly for Horn, Violin, Viola and Basso. The editor assumes that Punto could have changed the works in instrumentation and beginnings and published them under his own name. This would have been a good start for Punto as a composer. However, this assumption can not be proofed. It is only sure, that the quartets of Rosetti have not been found until today.

The work will be published again under the name of Punto despite the qualifications. The composition is a precious piece of chamber music of the late 18th century which is worth to be played again.

Here the first page of the score as  Adobe Acrobat pdf-file

ROM 63  64

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