When the autograph manuscript was sold, Mozart's widow and her helpers apparently were unable to locate the concluding pages, although some notations on it and contemporary correspondence show that they attempted to find the ending.
A. André,[2] apparently with these final pages still missing, a fact that was unknown until Alan Tyson discovered them in the British Library in 1980.
Einstein's hypothetical reconstruction, with the Cipriani Potter ending, can be heard in some older recordings of the Rondo, such as the one by soloist Annie Fischer and conductor Ferenc Fricsay (1959).
[3] Most recent recordings of the rondo, such as those of Murray Perahia and Malcolm Bilson, include the rediscovered original ending.
The three concertos were composed by Mozart to be a quattro (with just four strings in accompaniment), whilst the Rondo cannot be, as the cellos have an independent line from the basses.
The work is signed and dated on the first page di Wolfgango Amadeo Mozart mpr / Vieña gli 19 d'Octobre 1782.