Stich, known as Punto, was born near Tetschen in Bohemia about 1755. He was a serf of Count Thun, who sent him to Dresden to study the horn with a good fellow named Hampel, and then took him back into his service again in Prague. This service, however, became a double penance to Stich, who was both ambitious and merry: not only did his master adamantly refuse to let him wear a sword, but, whenever the young man let his sense of humour get the better of him he even threatened to make him wear livery. This indignity would have been too much for one of his nature and talents. He therefore seized an opportunity and crossed the Bohemian border into the Holy Roman Empire in the company of four other musicians, the leading horn player, two clarinetists and a bassoonist, hoping to obtain their liberty and perhaps make their fortunes as well. As soon as Count Thun heard of their escape he ordered that they should be pursued and that Stich in particular should be apprehended, and that if he could not be captured outright he should at least have his front teeth knocked in so that he should be unable to play the horn. For that reason Stich translated his name into Italian and from then on called himself Punto.10