Quartet No. 3, Op. 18, E major, for Horn, Violin, Viola and Cello
This Quartetto No. 3, Op. 18 comes from a print of three quartets published around 1795 by the Vogt publishing house in Paris.
The title page reads:
Trois Quatuors / Favoris de l'Auteur / Pour Cor, Violon, Alto et Basse / Dédiés à Madame Hainguerlot / et composés par Giov. Punto
The Hainguerlot family were bankers and merchants and presumably acted as patrons for this publication. While the title page reads "Basso," the individual part is headed "Violoncello"; likewise, the title's "Quatuor" differs from the "Quartetto" used in the individual parts.
Op. 18 appeared almost simultaneously in an edition for flute, violin, viola and cello, published there already under the imprint Vogt et la Vve Goudens.
Giovanni Punto — real name Jan Václav Stich, or Johann Wenzel Stich — was born on 28 September 1746 in Zehušice near Čáslav, about 75 km southeast of Prague. He was one of the great horn virtuosos of the 18th century and belongs among the many well-known Bohemian musicians who fled their homeland. His parents were serfs of Count Thun, who had Stich trained on the horn. He first studied with Joseph Matiega in Prague (including vocal training), then with Haudek and Hampel in Dresden. In 1768, Stich fled Count Thun's serfdom and from then on called himself Giovanni Punto, both as a disguise and for better musical "marketing." A brief engagement in Hechingen in Hohenzollern service followed in 1768; from 1769 to 1774 he served the Elector of Mainz, and thereafter, until 1780, was employed in Würzburg. From 1769 Punto undertook numerous concert tours across Europe, establishing his international fame. Mozart heard Punto during his stay in Paris and was enthusiastic about his playing. From 1781, Punto played in Paris in the chapel of the Comte d'Artois with a lifelong pension guaranteed. During the French Revolution, from 1795 to 1797, he was orchestra director at the Théâtre du Variétés in Paris. He left Paris in 1799; in 1800 he gave concerts in Vienna and Budapest together with Beethoven (Sonata Op. 17). In 1801 Punto returned triumphantly to Prague. Giovanni Punto died on 16 February 1803 in Prague of "dropsy of the chest," a condition then very common among wind players.
