 It is not known how Antes learned the craft of instrument making, although it is possible that he learned from Johann Gottlob Klemm, an American organ builder, who spent time in Bethlehem in 1757.Antes's compositional style is often compared to that of Joseph Haydn, since the two were contemporaries.The instrumentation of Antes's string trios might have followed that of Haydn, who wrote 21 trios for the same scoring.