The String Quintet no. 3 in C major, K. 515 was finished by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1787 and published two years later. Like all of Mozart's string quintets, it is a "viola quintet", scored for string quartet and an extra viola. The work was completed in April, less than a month before the completion of his stormy K. 516. The work is in standard four movement form, though published with the middle movements in reverse order, the 'scherzo' movement preceding the 'slow' movement: Mozart's final intentions on movement order are not entirely known, and both orders are common amongst chamber musicians. The first movement is massive in its scope, indeed being the largest sonata form before Beethoven's work. Mozart's work inspired Schubert to write his own string quintet in the same key, albeit using two cellos instead of two violas.
