Unfinished manuscrips such as the noble torso of the Mozart Requiem can reveal many more things than clean copy manuscripts can. For instance, in the first page of the "Lacrimosa" section, the last known music Mozart ever wrote, we see Mozart completed the choral parts, and some of the string parts, but did not at this stage complete the parts in full. The manuscrips as well as some descriptions that have survived about Mozart's creative process reveal that Mozart wrote out the choral lines and the lead violin line with figured bass for harmony, then filled in the other parts as he continued.
When working on Figaro, it was described by one that Mozart wrote the ingenious end of Act II of Figaro by completing the vocal parts first, then 'orchestrating' the piece. With the amazing speed at which Mozart's thought must have travelled, he may have wanted to get his main ideas out in skeletal form before closing in on the details of the work. This does not necessarily debunk the notion that Mozart often had a piece already complete in his mind before committing it to paper, but with sketch material and minor revisions in his mature works, it is clear Mozart made changes and continually perfected his work, even if the essential structure of the work was clear in his mind before the pen met the staff paper.
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