The sonata is in three movements:
I. Moderato
II.
Andante con moto (A-flat major)
III.
Finale – Allegro
The first movement is in sonata form.
The movement's exposition and recapitulation are in tripartite structures, the parts of which the Finnish musicologist Lauri Suurpää classifies as "initiating, medial and concluding".
In the exposition, the initiating passage is from measures 1 to 8, the medial passage is from measures 9 to 31, and the concluding passage is from measures 32 to 37.
The exposition and recapitulation both contain quasi-cadenzas that Haydn wrote into the score.

The second movement, marked "andante con moto", is in A-flat major and 3/4 time, and features multiple passages of syncopation.

The finale returns to the sonata's home key of C minor.
Its opening is redolent of a minuet, but the movement is no minuet and trio.
Instead it is a sonata form movement that develops with increasing intensity and difficulty, incorporating virtuosic cross-handed passages in which the left hand leaps from one extreme of the eighteenth-century keyboard to the other.
The sonata is in three movements:
I. Moderato
II. Andante con moto (A-flat major)
III. Finale – Allegro
The first movement is in sonata form. The movement's exposition and recapitulation are in tripartite structures, the parts of which the Finnish musicologist Lauri Suurpää classifies as "initiating, medial and concluding". In the exposition, the initiating passage is from measures 1 to 8, the medial passage is from measures 9 to 31, and the concluding passage is from measures 32 to 37. The exposition and recapitulation both contain quasi-cadenzas that Haydn wrote into the score.
The second movement, marked "andante con moto", is in A-flat major and 3/4 time, and features multiple passages of syncopation.
The finale returns to the sonata's home key of C minor. Its opening is redolent of a minuet, but the movement is no minuet and trio. Instead it is a sonata form movement that develops with increasing intensity and difficulty, incorporating virtuosic cross-handed passages in which the left hand leaps from one extreme of the eighteenth-century keyboard to the other.
Piano Sonata Hob. XVI/20