?Because I only need four parts to express everything? Haydn is said to have replied thus when asked why he had not composed a string quintet. Mozart saw things differently. He applied himself to this genre sixtimes even giving important parts to the two Violas. Following Volume II which contains the three most often played quintets we warmly recommend Mozart?s first Quintet K. 174 to ensembles (the 3rd andfinal volume was published in 2008). The editors were able to refer to the autograph which is once again accessible. It shows Mozart?s intensive compositional work resulting in the fact that he composed the minuet andfinale of the work a second time. The first version of both movements is included in the appendix of our edition enabling insightful comparisons.

With the publication of the masterpieces K. 593 and 614 all of Mozart’s string quintets are now available in Henle Urtext. Our edition corrects several widespread misreadings of the musical text and also draws on the firstprintings as important sources. The first printing of the Finale from the Quintet in D major K. 593 diverges greatly from the autograph. The editors consider it probable that the print version was authorized which is the reasonwhy we have published both versions of the movement (to enable a better comparison it is given as an ossia version above the musical text). In the Preface and Comments the editors shed light on the source situation to these twoimmortal works written in the last two years of Mozart’s life.