Like the Praeludium, BuxWV 144, this praeludium looks much more like a prelude and fugue than the typical Buxtehude praeludium. The free toccata-like section comes to a full stop before the fugue begins, but the fugue does break down into free rhapsodic material for the last five bars of the piece. Both the opening free section and the fugue are much longer than usual and with its 127 measures, it is as long as most five- or seven-section Buxtehude praeludia. The opening free section could be considered a conglomeration of several sections. The time signature changes three times in this section. The fugue is also unusual in that it has a relatively long subject. At six measures long, it is much longer than the typical one- or two-measure subject in the Buxtehude repertoire.

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