The date of Haydn's Symphony No. 10 in D major is uncertain, although it is hazarded to be an early essay belonging to the Lukavec period. One of the least familiar Haydn symphonies, it nonetheless bears several distinguishing features. Largely it speaks a language at once merry and engaging. In three movements it is scored for strings, two oboes, and two horns.

The first movement of No. 10, a sonata, commences with a striking theme which is no more than a vigorous ricocheting I-IV-I-V chord progression, the sort which is heard so often in early American rockabilly music; this theme is extended by the sort of bustling, "taking flight" passages which one associates with Mozart. The second theme is similarly two-fold commencing in a prim and old-fashioned manner, concluding with syncopation. Although little has been written about the central andante, it is a haunting little movement, virtually a fantasia in its nebulous, gradual unfurling. Over a long introductory pedal, the theme is assembled by constantly varying fragments, all contrasting but compatible and appealing; it is a movement of flow, more a stream than a river. The capering finale in triple time is a pared-down sonata, contrasting a trill-laden theme with one marked by portamenti.

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