Giovanni Punto, or by his real name Johann (Jan) Wenzel (Václav) Stich, was born on 28 September 1746 in Žehušice/Čáslav, 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 Matiegka in Prague (including vocal training), then with Houdek and Hampel in Dresden.
In 1768 Stich fled from serfdom under Count Thun and adopted the name 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 until 1780 he was employed in Würzburg. From 1781 Punto played in Paris in the chapel of the Comte d'Artois, with a lifelong pension guarantee. During the French Revolution, from 1795 to 1797, he was orchestra director at the Variété Theatre in Paris. He left Paris in 1799. From 1769 onward, Punto undertook numerous concert tours throughout Europe, establishing his international fame. Mozart heard Punto during his stay in Paris and was delighted. In 1800 Punto gave concerts in Vienna and Budapest together with Beethoven (Sonata op. 17). In 1801 he returned triumphantly to Prague. Giovanni Punto died on 16 February 1803 in Prague of "dropsy of the chest", a disease very common among wind players at the time.
The 15 trios by Giovanni Punto have survived together with horn trios by his teacher Anton Hampel in a Parisian manuscript copy, and are notable for the high tessitura of the 1st horn. These appear to be relatively early works of Punto's, since his works surviving in print use almost exclusively the middle register. They were perhaps written during his time studying in Dresden under Hampel's supervision.
