This worklist primarily reports on Mozart's completed works, with additional information on works traditionally attributed to him but lacking authentic sources, and works attributed to him that are by other composers. Works are listed by the numbers assigned them in Ludwig Ritter von Köchel's Chronologisch-thematisches Verzeichnis sämtlicher Tonwerke Wolfgang Amadé Mozarts (Leipzig, 1862). Although many numbers were revised in subsequent editions by Alfred Einstein (1937, 3rd edition) and Franz Giegling, Alexander Weinmann and Gerd Sievers (1964, 6th edition), Mozart's works continue to be known chiefly by Köchel's original numbers, regardless of their revised order in the chronology. We have therefore decided to retain the original numbers except where a work is not listed in the 1862 catalogue; in those cases we have generally taken the number from the sixth edition. Regardless, Köchel is well cross-referenced and any number will eventually lead a user to the full entry for a work.

The dating of Mozart's works is based on a variety of sources. In many instances, his autographs are both signed and dated or there is unequivocal evidence in the family letters or contemporaneous documents; in those cases we have given a place and date without qualification. The same is true of works listed in Mozart's own thematic catalogue, which he began in February 1784 and continued for the rest of his life (Verzeichnüss aller meiner Werke vom Monath Febrario 1784 bis Monath 1; facsimile edition, ed. A. Rosenthal and A. Tyson, London, 1991).