Giovanni Punto

Biography

Giovanni Punto is pseudonyme of Jan Václav Stich (September 28, 1746, Žehušice – February 16, 1803, Prague), Czech composer of classicist period and horn player (more correctly, he played the cor basse) and a pioneer of the hand stopping technique which allows natural horns to play a greater number of notes. He was an international celebrity in the 18th and early 19th Centuries, known in London, Paris, and throughout Germany; one critic wrote in 1800 after a performance by Punto and Beethoven of Beethoven's Op. 17 Sonata for Horn and Piano - "Who is this Beethoven? His name is not known to us. Of course, Punto is very well known".

Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.