Allegro:

the first movement, is in classic sonata form. The Allegro, as well as the second movement, has a reversion to Beethoven's early manner, and to a Mozartian type of writing. Practically everything in the first movement, which superficially suggests an earlier period, turns out to be among the strongest proof of its "second-period" quality. The most obvious is the Alberti bass, which is used in this movement more than in any music for some years. It occurs in the second subject, and even the manner in which the harmony is adapted to implications of the upper part is far from that of the eighteenth century. On the other hand, the most obviously individual thing about the movement as a whole is its ambiguous opening, which we can only associate with Beethoven. We can say that this is a definite "second period" characteristic. Marion Scott describes this opening passage as " a wonderful soft call to attention--as if the Evening Star tapped on the casement". In this opening measures the composer asks a question, which contain the motive a (the descending motion) and motive b (the ascending chromatic scale), and this repeatedly throughout the movement.

The opening begins on the subdominant of E flat major, and then the chords have glided chromatically into the dominant. After a second appearance of the cadence from measure seven to measure eight, a tonic pedal asserts the actual tonic harmony much more firmly. In fact, the entire exposition is not so much in E flat major as "round about" E flat major. The transition, began at measure 25, produces interesting development beginning with motive a in the minor and was cutting out in order to modulate through motive b to B flat major for the second subject. The last few bars approaching the second subject descend through five F's (B flat in the Recapitulation), which is also made from motive a. All sweetness and light, Beethoven suddenly produces an enchanting second subject, a simple Mozart-like melodic line with alberti bass in the left hand, a tune that must certainly be classed as one of the happiest he ever wrote.

The form may be summarized as follows: