“Minstrels,” who served in medieval European courts, were professional entertainers who performed music during celebrations and daily meals. Their comical movements are expressed through rapidly changing time signatures.

Section A (measures 1-9) is described by the composer as a “joyful and amusing concert,” characterized by significant changes in time signature and cross-rhythms where the right and left hands play notes of different durations. Simultaneously, a consistent grouping of three beats in the left-hand chords (appearing in the right hand from measure 6) constantly emerges, dominating the entire A section.

Section B (measures 10-21), titled “Midnight Court,” maintains a stable 4/4 time signature, while the complex harmonic sonorities are emphasized by longer note values than in section A. After the return of section A (measures 22-29), the piece proceeds to the coda.