String Quintet No. 1 (Mozart)

The String Quintet No. 1 in B flat major, K. 174, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in December 1773. 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 basso.

Mozart composed this quintet a few months following the composition of the Viennese Quartets, K. 168-173 – indeed this work immediately follows that set in the first edition of the Köchel catalogue.

Movements

The work is in standard four movement form:

• I. Allegro moderato in B-flat major
• II. Adagio in E-flat major
• III. Menuetto ma Allegro ³
  ₄ in B-flat major, with trio in F major
• IV. Allegro ²
  ₄ in B-flat major

References

• Charles Rosen, "The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven", 1997, Norton

External links

• Quintett in B: Score and critical report (German) in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
• Performance of String Quintet No. 1 by the Orion String Quartet with Ida Kavafian (viola) from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in MP3 format