Haydn's Symphony no. 68 shares with No. 66 several characteristics including the common key of B flat major and an overall conservatism of mode. Given the proliferation of invention in No. 67, it is likely that the two former were composed one right after the other with 67 last in sequence. While 68 does, like 66, seem to reflect the composer's compliance after his patron Esterházy inveighed against the day's modernism, it seems a bit harsh to label it "insipid," as did venerable Haydn scholar Robbins Landon. If the symphony speaks the conventional language of its day, it nonetheless shows Haydn as nothing less than the thorough sound-smith that he was. At that little more need be said.

No. 68 commences lively yet stealthily until the unprepared forte at measure 7. Although a fairly "textbook" sonata, the movement is periodically colored by the emergence of the two bassoons in solo, a novel orchestral touch. The minuet, initially presumed non-existent until it was reinstalled via the orchestral parts, is lyrical and melodic, while the trio is almost toy-like in its simplicity. The adagio cantabile which follows looks ahead to the rhythm of the later "Clock" Symphony (101), although it is worth noting that many of Haydn's works used this celebrated metered canter prior to the later work. In the final rondo, one hears the intimations of hearty, raucous laughter owing to the barrages of reiterated notes. Here the term "jovial," as derived from "Jupiter," seems most appropriate.

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