This work is the third of three of his "Razumovsky" cycle of string quartets, and is a product of his "middle" period.

The relation (or apparent lack thereof) between the slow, sombre and dissonant introduction and the bright allegro which follows, is similar to what is found in Mozart's "Dissonance" Quartet, also in the key of C. The quartet's second movement makes use of an augmented second in the descending scale first played by the first violin at the beginning of the movement.

Nevertheless, it can be argued that this second movement with its sparse texture and comfortless melodies, evokes a Russian feel by bringing to mind the vast, barren and desolate landscape of the Siberian tundra.

The quartet's third movement is a lighter menuetto which provides the motif that is subsequently turned upside down for the last movement, a fugal allegro molto that begins with the viola and adds the second violin, cello and first violin in that order.

The movement concludes with an enormous Mannheim crescendo, peaking at an implicit fff.