Like its three companion works catalogued under Wotquenne 183, this compact symphony is a fine example of Sturm und Drang style, although it lacks the sustained high drama of Haydn's more extensive works in this manner. It also lacks the traditional third-movement minuet.

The Allegro di molto begins with a festive, curtain-raising theme, but a fast, descending figure almost immediately collapses into a series of convulsive shivers. More traditional melodic material eventually takes control, including a bright, slightly pompous little motif, but the quaking figure is never far in the background, and indeed it stops the action more than once. This flows seamlessly into a miniature Larghetto, with sensitive woodwind writing that anticipates the early Romantics. Barely has this established itself when the jittery concluding Allegretto rises from a fairly low dynamic level, not providing too much of an initial shock after the Larghetto. With strongly marked rhythms, the music spins out long ribbons of string passagework, interrupted periodically by brief phrases of contrasting character.

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