After a few declamatory chords, the opening Moderato movement continues with some material of unique delicacy among Haydn's keyboard sonatas of this period (although that initial fanfare-like motif is quietly echoed in the bass a few measures on). The music soon falls into a series of capricious curlicues, though; together with a stern treatment of the fanfare chords, this provides most of the fodder for a disturbed development section. After that mercurial movement, the Adagio brings a steady nobility to the sonata, although the melodic line is highly ornate. A very brief, melancholy episode occupies the Adagio's central moments, but the initial material soon reappears in a slightly more embellished version. This sonata ends with a movement marked Tempo di Menuet; the 3/4 rhythm may resemble that of a minuet (although it's rather disguised by the chuckling nature of the melody), but the movement's form is actually a set of variations. The most clever episode comes early on, a long F- minor variation that hints at duple meter. The next variation flirts with two-part counterpoint, and the theme's final statement brings back its laughing character.

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