W. A. Mozart. Contemporary edition of the Piano Quartet in G minor, K.478, 1786

MOZART, WOLFGANG AMADEUS

Un Quatuor Pour le Clavecin ou Piano-Forte Composé par Mozart [parts], Mainz: Schott, [1786]

CONTEMPORARY EDITION OF THE PIANO QUARTET IN G MINOR, K.478, complete parts, 14 [piano part], 5 [violin I], 5 [viola], 4 [violoncello] pages, oblong 4to ([piano:] 22.7x 30cm) and upright 4to ([other parts:] 32 x 23cm), engraved throughout, plate number 71, late eighteenth- or early nineteenth-century blue wrappers to piano part, upper cover signed and inscribed by the owner ("Quartett für Pianoforte mit 1 Violin, Viola und Violoncello von Mozart. G: Carolus.") [cf. RISM M 6313], edges of piano part repaired, pages 7 and 8 of the piano part supplied in possibly contemporary manuscript, some spines, hinges and edges of the parts strengthened, some staining, ink blot to upper wrapper 

The G-minor Piano Quartet, K.478, one of Mozart's greatest chamber works, was first issued by Hoffmeister at the end of 1785. This only slightly later contemporary edition is not to be confused with the 1794 re-issue with 'No. ['1': in manuscript]' added to the title.

LITERATURE:

See Hans-Christian Müller, Bernhard Schott, Hofmusikstecher in Mainz: Die Frühgeschichte seines Musikverlages bis 1797 (Mainz, 1977), p.108; Rupert Ridgewell, 'Biographical Myth and the Publication of Mozart's Piano Quartets', in Journal of the Royal Musical Association, 135/1 (2010), p.73