Symphony No.55 in E-flat major, Hob. I:55 "The Schoolmaster"

The second movement is a theme with seven variations. Keeping with the semplicemente marking, the theme is quite simple and is in two halves. A recurring contrast amongst the variations is between those that are staccato (theme, 2 & 3) and those that are more legato (1, 4, 5). The variations overlap twice (theme with variation 1, variation 3 with variation 4) in that the first half for the two variations in sequence followed by the second half for each. Both times this is done to contrast a staccato variation with a legato one. For the most part, the movement is for muted strings only, with notable wind outbursts in the second variation as well as the use of full tutti in the seventh variation which serves to recapitulate the movement.