Hepokoski points out that one would expect the end of an exposition to come with a clear cadence in the new key, in this case G major. But as the third theme fades away it is replaced in measure 36 by the first theme of the A-group, here still in G major. Though this next section proceeds in an unexpected key – G major then changing back to the tonic E in measure 41 – Abraham and Layton both consider it a second or "counter" exposition, like the 18th-century repeat of the exposition. They reference the recurrence of both the A- and B-groups almost in their entirety, though here they are used to emphasize the tonic.