No tempo marking, C major, 6/8 time

As mentioned above, the autograph draft lacks a tempo marking, but the dynamic 6/8 meter suggests an Allegretto. This movement, too, broadly adopts a sonata form similar to that of the first movement.

The first theme group is in C major. After an eight-bar theme, a melody in E minor appears like a middle section, showcasing the typical Schubertian interplay between major and minor (m. 14). The opening theme returns in the tonic, closing the first theme group. The fact that the first theme group adopts a ternary form makes it closer to the forms of middle movements or the rondo form of final movements than to the sonata form of the opening movement.

Following the first theme group, a fanfare-like passage in C minor resounds powerfully (m. 32). This passage is repeated in E-flat major (m. 36), and after a transition leading to A-flat, which is reinterpreted enharmonically as G-sharp, the second theme group is presented in E major (m. 47). After this gentle second theme continues for a while, G major is hinted at (m. 68), with C major (m. 65) serving as a pivot. Following a perfect cadence, a third theme, also serving as a coda, appears in G major, closing the exposition. This structure, where a mediant key is inserted between the opening theme and the theme concluding the exposition, is similar to that of the first movement.

The development section begins in E-flat major. After a section in D-flat major (m. 105), G major appears at m. 121, foreshadowing the recapitulation in C major. In the autograph manuscript, the left-hand notation ceases from m. 126, and the writing stops after the first note of m. 134, which is G (considered to be the first note of the recapitulation).