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 43 trios, edited here for the first time, come from a Bohemian manuscript copy of horn trios, indicated as "Authore Ponti et Brandl". A horn player named Brandel could be identified. Some of the 43 trios by "Ponti" correspond to a Parisian manuscript copy of horn trios by Giovanni Punto, first edited under ROM 336. Ponti = Giovanni Punto.
