Written in E minor in 4/4 time, the composition starts by commanding attention, and is followed by several rubato bars. This is followed by an eight-bar melody with basses that require left hand dexterity when moving from Em to Eb7. The second section has a fugue-like motif – the first four bars of which have a staccato directive, the second four bars are in a looser semi-legato form; the eight bars are then repeated one octave higher. An eight bar bellows-shake section follows, and this leads into a slightly faster 15-bar section before a recap to the original theme and melody leading to an accelerating finish.