 The second movement is in E-flat major and strophic form, with a statement of a theme followed by three variations (the second of which is in E-flat minor) and a coda. Haydn used a similar design for the slow movement of the Opus 20, No. 4 quartet. In 1793 the poet Gabriele von Baumberg set the movement's theme to words, for inscription on a monument honouring Haydn in the composer's home town of Rohrau, Austria.
