6th Sonata, Opus 10, No. 2, in F major.
Allegro—Allegretto—Presto.
The tenth Opus, which first appeared on September 26th, 1798, contains three Sonatas, all dedicated to the Countess von Brovne. The Sonata is in three movements—the first a movement of development, the second a Scherzo, and the third a playful Presto. The whole Sonata is cast in happy mood. The mysterious and somewhat eerie feeling of the Minuet being completely dispelled by the happiness of the Trio (which, curiously, enough, Brahms seems to have written over again in his Scherzo in E flat minor). The mood at the first part of this Scherzo has a close relationship with the Scherzo in the Eroica Symphony.
There are several noteworthy points about the development of the first movement. It opens with a treatment of the last three notes of the exposition in capricious manner. The development closes, too, with this idea, but it also contains a completely new subject in D minor. The prevalence of this tonality brings in the return section irregularly in D major. The Presto is one of those playful movements, full of fun and written broadly in Sonata form lines.