Rondo for Clarinet Quintet in E♭ major (fragment), K. 516d
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart’s Rondo for clarinet and strings in E♭ major (K. 516d) is a short surviving fragment from Vienna, dated 1787. Preserved only as an incomplete sketch, it offers a fleeting glimpse of the chamber style Mozart was developing for clarinetist Anton Stadler in the late 1780s.[1]
What Is Known
Only a single, very brief Rondo fragment survives for clarinet and string quartet (two violins, viola, and bass part—often realized as cello/double bass in performance).[1] The Neue Mozart-Ausgabe catalogues it as an Andante Rondo in E♭ major (K. 516d), placing it in Vienna in 1787.[1] In that same Viennese period Mozart was beginning to treat the clarinet as a fully lyrical chamber partner—an approach that soon flowered in the completed Clarinet Quintet in A major, K. 581 (1789).[2]
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Musical Content
The fragment is headed as a rondo and marked Andante, suggesting a gently paced refrain design rather than a brilliant finale.[1] What survives appears to outline the opening idea for clarinet with string accompaniment in E♭ major—a key Mozart often associated with warm, spacious sonority in his wind writing. Because the music breaks off almost immediately, its larger plan (episode structure, returns of the refrain, and any concluding cadence strategy) cannot be securely reconstructed from the manuscript alone.[1]
[1] Digital Mozart Edition / Neue Mozart-Ausgabe (NMA) table of contents: lists K. 516d as “Andante Rondo in E flat … (fragment)” with scoring and dating information
[2] Digital Mozart Edition / Neue Mozart-Ausgabe (NMA) same volume contents: contextual listing of K. 581 (Clarinet Quintet) alongside the appendix fragments K. 516c and K. 516d