Leipzig Edition of the Works

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy devoted only two works to the string quintet genre, both showing several formal and musical similarities, although composed nearly two decades apart. The works presented the editor with several challenges in view of Mendessohn’s relentless penchant for revision.  The A-major quintet is present in a reasonably recognizable “final version” that appeared in print in 1833 after the composer had reworked it, replacing an inner movement: the B flat-major quintet, after its preliminary conclusion in 1845, was subjected to several further rounds of proofreading right up, presumably, until into the year of his death.