It has been argued that a planned Vienna performance in 1826 was canceled after rehearsals due to the work's imposing length and difficulty. A partial performance was led by Mendelssohn in 1839 in Leipzig. It is scored for double winds, horns and trumpets, three trombones, timpani and strings. In the Ninth they play a dual role. Horns intone the unison first theme whose melodic and rhythmic elements are incorporated throughout the movement.
Winds take up the theme in harmony, supported by pizzicato strings.
After passages featuring adventurous harmonies with abrupt dynamic and orchestrational changes the opening theme returns again in the woodwinds, now accompanied by an obbligato triplet melody in the divided violins. The climax cadences on the opening of the Allegro non troppo. This opening, quite basic melodically and introducing the contrast between duple and triple divisions of the beat between strings and winds, in many ways serves Schubert by allowing him to build the massive structure of the movement. The relative simplicity of the material permits Schubert to group individual measures into larger metric structures, usually of four measures, sometimes two or six, which are further grouped into even larger musical paragraphs. With accents, and internal rhythms creating surface interest, the larger structures move inexorably to dramatic climaxes.