Concerto No. 3 in F major for Horn and Orchestra
This Concerto in F major was first published around 1780 by the Parisian publisher Sieber. It is the first solo concerto in which Punto uses the key of F major. The fact that the concerto went through several reprints at Sieber, the last between 1809 and 1812, suggests that it was very popular.
About the Composer
Giovanni Punto, born Jan Václav Stich (Johann Wenzel Stich), was born on 28 September 1746 in Žehušice near Čáslav, about 75 km southeast of Prague. He was one of the great horn virtuosos of the 18th century and one of the many Bohemian musicians who left their homeland.
His parents were serfs of Count Thun, who had him trained on the horn. He first studied with Joseph Matiegka in Prague (including vocal training), then with Haudek and Hampel in Dresden. In 1768 Stich fled serfdom and, both as a disguise and for better musical “marketing”, took the name Giovanni Punto.
After a brief engagement in 1768 in the service of the Hohenzollerns in Hechingen, he served the Elector of Mainz from 1769 to 1774 and was then employed in Würzburg until 1780. From 1781 Punto played in Paris in the orchestra of the Count of Artois, with a lifelong pension guarantee. During the French Revolution he was music director at the Théâtre Variétés in Paris from 1795 to 1797. He left Paris in 1799.
From 1769 onward Punto undertook numerous concert tours across Europe, which established his international fame. Mozart heard him during his stay in Paris and was enthusiastic. In 1800 Punto gave concerts together with Beethoven in Vienna and Budapest (Sonata Op. 17). In 1801 he returned to Prague in triumph, where he died on 16 February 1803 of “chest dropsy”, an illness common among wind players at the time.
3rd Concerto
Works by Punto:
- Concerto No. 1 for Horn (ROM 302)
- Concerto No. 2 for Horn (ROM 208)
- Concerto No. 3 for Horn (ROM 376)
- Concerto No. 5 for Horn (ROM 299)
- Concerto No. 6 for Horn (ROM 378)
- Concerto No. 7 for Horn (ROM 379)
- Concerto No. 10 for Horn (ROM 381)
- Concerto No. 11 for Horn (ROM 347)
- Concerto No. 14 for Horn (ROM 382)
- Concerto in F major for Horn (Stockholm, ROM 375)
- his Quintets, edited as ROM 44, ROM 45 and ROM 46
- his 6 Quartets Op. 1, edited as ROM 63 and ROM 64
