Haydn's Symphony No. 32 in C major had once been ascribed to the composer's earlier years. However, in the composer's own catalog in which he listed all the symphonies he had produced up to 1769, it is implied that its numeration gels with its chronology.

Although it bears no nickname or indication as to its being a piece d'occasion, Symphony No. 32 has a ceremonial festivity and at times loftiness which looks back to the late-Baroque era. Trumpet and tympani, sometimes missing from modern editions, add to the grand aura, especially in the first movement where the high trumpet parts conjure up Bach and Handel. The ensuing minuet likewise features the brass and its measured tread suggests ceremony rather than ballroom or the bucolic; Handel's Water and Fireworks music comes to mind. The solemnity of the work continues with the selection of an adagio rather than andante for the slow movement, with only strings and continuo featured. The work concludes with its only movement lacking grandiloquence, a typically spry 3/8 allegro.

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