melody

• main melody is sung by a soprano singer
• the word setting is mostly syllabic (each syllable of the text is given it's own note), with some melismatic sections (like the word 'eternal').
• word painting is used to make the music reflect the meaning of the words
• most of the melody notes move in steps, with lots of passing notes (th notes in between chord notes)
• there are lots of uses of ornaments (common to baroque music) in the right hand of the harpsichord and the soprano line, such as trills, appoggiaturas, grace notes and mordents
• some of the text has been repeated, such as the word 'drop'
• there are some descending sequences, such as in bar 20
• rests are used to break up melodic phrases
• the stepwise movement of the melody means it can be described as a 'conjunct' melody