The horn player, composer and conductor Giovanni Punto (1746-1803) traveled all over Europe, performing his own concerti and chamber music. This research has been inspired by the question of what it must have been like to hear Punto playing. The son of a serf, he impressed Mozart and Beethoven with his artistry; he played a silver horn made for him by the Parisian horn maker Lucien-Joseph Raoux, and Mozart’s Requiem was performed at his funeral. Reportedly, he was a master performer of double tones and even chords; a highly neglected early example of multiphonics. A typical solo-candenza highlight, this technique did not find its way into written music of the classical era, with the exception of the Concertino for horn and orchestra in E minor, op. 45 (1806) by Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826).

Research Questions

• Did the fact that Punto was a cor basse (low horn) player, using typical low horn equipment, contribute to his fame as a soloist, whereas today horn soloists are normally high hornplayers? As Punto stated in his tutor manual, cor basse players used much wider mouthpieces than cor alto (high horn) players. Today all (natural) horn soloists use relatively small mouthpieces. As part of this research Punto's compositions will be played on mouthpieces that resemble the ones he used. This might cause considerable differences on today’s standards of playing the natural horn as a solo instrument.
   
• Punto worked with Mozart and Beethoven. This begs the question of whether he influenced their way of writing for the instrument? In his orchestral music, Beethoven often writes the most interesting solos in the low horn parts, whereas today the cor alto players assume the role of soloist. Are these solos, for instance the famous part for the fourth horn in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, related to (compositions of) Punto?
   
• How much did Punto contribute to the art of handstopping on the natural horn? He said he learned the technique from Anton Joseph Hampel (1710-1771) in the early 1760s. In his tutor manual as well as in his compositions, Punto is rather conservative in the use of this technique, compared to some of his contemporaries. Is the limited use of handstopping one of the reasons for his success?
   
• What role did Punto play in the development and unification of the horn in the second half of the eighteenth century? He must have met with many horn players in different countries. Did he help develop the silver cor solo he received from Raoux? What impact does this nowadays rarely played type of horn have on the performance of solo repertoire?