String Quintet No. 5 (Mozart)

The String Quintet No. 5 in D major, K. 593 was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1790. Like all of Mozart's string quintets, it is a "viola quintet" in that it is scored for string quartet and an extra viola (two violins, two violas and cello).

Movements

The work is in standard four movement form:

1. Larghetto ³
   ₄ – Allegro – Larghetto ³
   ₄ – Primo Tempo in D major
2. Adagio ³
   ₄ in G major
3. Menuetto: Allegretto ³
   ₄ in D major, with trio in D major
4. Allegro Assai⁶
   ₈ in D major

According to the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, the finale was printed, and known for some time, in an inauthentic edition, in which its main theme, originally a descending chromatic scale fragment, was replaced in most of its appearances in the movement by a more complicated zigzag ("Zickzackform") themelet.

External links

•  Quintett in D: Score and critical report (in German) in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
• String Quintet No. 5: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• Performance by the Orion String Quartet and Ida Kavafian (viola) from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in MP3 format