This thesis explores the main source of liturgical music of the Polish Brethren, a publication entitled Psalmy Niektore Krola Dawida (1610 and 1625). The three Chapters contained in this thesis give a broad overview of PNKD and a detailed case study of some of its most relevant works. Although important sources mention some of the names of composers who contributed with the melodies contained in PNKD, the issue of determining the origins of most of its melodies is still largely unstudied. This thesis shows that a significant portion of the melodies found in PNKD are also featured in earlier Calvinist publications from Poland and abroad, as well as in earlier works published by the Polish Brethren themselves. A central theme in this thesis is the frequent use of melodic borrowings as a recurring feature of PNKD. As my statistical analysis shows, most of the works found in the Polish Brethren's psalter do not contain melodies, thus depending entirely on the melodies of other works from within PNKD in order to be performed. Some of these borrowings create complex intertextual juxtapositions that involve, at times, more than three or four different texts. These juxtapositions were planned deliberately and served as a rhetorical tool, as the Polish Brethren likely created PNKD with the intent of providing not only spiritual commentary on the scriptures, but also political and philosophical critique of the status quo. The textual juxtaposition of psalms in many ways relates to some of the core values of the group as well as to political issues faced by the movement in Poland, which is why studying these intertextual connections is an important step towards understanding how these communities thought and acted.
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