Little is known about the cellist and composer Johann Stiastny, and what is known contradicts each other in the sources. František Jan Št’astný, also known as Jean Stiasny or, indeed, Johann Stiastny, was probably born in Prague around 1764. In his standard work The Violoncello and Its History, Wilhelm Joseph von Wasielewski wrote that Stiastny’s cello works “are qualified to be placed amongst the best productions of the older Cello literature, as they contained effects which for that period were entirely novel.” Alexander Hülshoff and Martin Rummel, two celebrated cellists of our time, present premiere recordings of Stiastny’s Trois Duos Concertans, Op. 6, creating a unique album for cello lovers and collectors of rare 18th century repertoire.

Little is known about the cellist and composer Johann Stiastny, and what is known contradicts each other in the sources. It begins with his name: František Jan Št’astný, also known as Jean Stiasny or, indeed, Johann Stiastny, was probably born in Prague around 1764, as the son of oboist Jan Št’astný (and as younger brother of cellist Bernard Václav Št’astný). Fétis gives his birth year as 1774. He was a member of the Prague Theater Orchestra, a cellist in Mainz and Frankfurt, and a music director in Nuremberg. Given the English dedicatees of some of his works, it seems likely that he traveled – in addition to Paris – as far as London.