Arranged from the octet version of the "Gran Partita" K. 361/370a for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon
Mozart's lavishly scored "Gran Partita" K. 361, for 12 winds and double bass, was never published in the 18th or 19th century and survives in only a small number of manuscript copies. A version for 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 horns, and 2 bassoons, by contrast, exists in numerous manuscript copies and even two printed editions. This version contains movements 1, 2, 3, and 7, and may possibly be the original version of the well-known large-scale work performed by the clarinetist Anton Stadler in 1784. The octet scoring was almost certainly the more popular of the two at the time.
Since two arranged quartet versions also existed in the 18th century, the editor felt it legitimate, in the spirit of that era, to create an arrangement for wind quintet.
