It is Schubert's only symphony which does not include clarinets, trumpets or timpani: hence the work has come to be known occasionally[by whom?]

as “the symphony without trumpets and drums.” In character, the writing is often said to resemble Mozart; Schubert was infatuated with the composer at the time he composed it, writing in his diary on June 13 of the year of composition, "O Mozart!

what countless impressions of a brighter, better life hast thou stamped upon our souls!

The first movement is a slightly unusual sonata form since the recapitulation begins, as in the first movement of Mozart's sonata facile (and Schubert's Trout Quintet), in the subdominant, not in the main key of the piece as is more usual.

The progression used mid-way through the movement to modulate is borrowed almost directly from Mozart – using the same approach (a gradual layering of instruments) to a dominant seventh chord.