This is an early sonata in Hummel's fairly sizable output, but it already divulges its composer's keyboard mastery. It is clearly in the Classical mold, and while it is not imitative, its themes would not sound out of place in a Beethoven sonata. Yet its structural features probably owe as much to Mozart as to Beethoven. That said, the first movement's main theme bears a striking resemblance in both its notes and mood to the first part of the melody in the Mozart Symphony No. 41's finale. Still, what Hummel makes of it is closer in spirit to Beethoven than to Mozart.

The greatest immediate difference between Hummel and Beethoven is the former's more delicate, somewhat less heroic manner. The ten-minute first movement (Allegro con brio—"Alleluia") brims with sunshine and energetic joy. The Adagio middle panel opens with a relatively somber introductory passage, after which the music turns sweet with some of the composer's loveliest lyrical writing. The Allegro con spirito finale exhibits Hummel's deft rhythmic skills, as well as his colorful sense of humor. Even if his contrapuntal skills were not as fully developed here as they later became, this nearly half-hour work is surely among Hummel's largely neglected but eminently worthy efforts.

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