An all-Mozart memorial concert took place in Hamburg in March 1792, where the verified performance of this symphony was noted by an eyewitness named Iwan Anderwitsch, who describes the start of the symphony as follows: The opening is so majestic that it so surprised even the coldest, most insensitive listener and non-expert, that even if he wanted to chat, it prevented him from being inattentive, and thus, so to speak, put him in a position to become all ears.

It then becomes [so] fiery, full, ineffably grand and rich in ideas, with striking variety in almost all obbligato parts, that it is nearly impossible to follow so rapidly with ear and feeling, and one is nearly paralyzed.

This actual paralysis became visible in various connoisseurs and friends of music, and some admitted that they would never have been able to think or imagine they would hear something like this performed so splendidly in Hamburg.

[citation needed] The slow movement, in abridged sonata form, i.e. no development section,[6] starts quietly in the strings and expands into the rest of the orchestra.

The forceful Menuetto is set off by the trio's unusual tint of the second clarinet playing arpeggios in its low (chalumeau) register.

The melody for this particular folk dance derived from local drinking songs which were popular in Vienna during the late 18th century.

[citation needed] The finale is another sonata form whose main theme, like that of the later string quintet in D, is mostly a scale, here ascending and descending.