Sonata V is rather differently laid out from the other four Sonatas in that it does not start with a two-section Sonata, but with an expressive Allemanda. A complex fugue is then sandwiched between two Adagios, both of which again display the ‘walking’ bass and wonderful harmonic suspensions. The set ends with a magnificent Passacaglia containing twenty-five variations on a standard ground bass – related to the one used by Bach in the ‘Goldberg’ variations. Muffat was evidently pleased with this movement for he re-used it later in a modernized form at the end of his twelve concerti grossi of 1701.

Roy Goodman