The work is in standard four movement form and scored for flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, continuo (harpsichord) and strings.
The strings open the Allegro stating the main theme and the rest of the movement develops from there, with almost every statement deriving from a previous idea.
The slow movement in D major consists mainly of embellishments of the legato oboe and solo cello theme which opens it, though every so often is punctuated by chords played by the whole orchestra.
Haydn’s close friend Mozart had previously used trumpets and timpani in the slow movement of his Linz Symphony of 1783.
The trio has an unusual feature to it: after stating a rather simple theme, the fifths held in the bassoons and violas shift down a fourth in parallel, an effect typically avoided by the classical composers.