From the Organist & Choirmaster
Did you know that the writer of the Epiphany carol “We three Kings” is not so Eastern-ly as we might think. He was from the United States! John Henry Hopkins Jr wrote the carol in 1857 while serving as Rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. He wrote it for a Christmas pageant in New York City.
Hopkins organized the carol in a way that three male voices would each sing a solo that corresponds with the Biblical Magi, with the first and last verses being sung all together as “verses of praise.” The refrain of course praises the beauty of the Star of Bethlehem which led the Magi to the Christ child. The melody of the carol is almost haunting, with its meter, shifting back and forth from minor and major chords, and an almost “sad” tone. Because of this, the carol resembles very closely a song from the Middle Ages and Middle Eastern Music.
John Henry Hopkins Jr was originally a journalist for a New York newspaper and studied to become a lawyer. He was called to the priesthood after graduating from the University of Vermont. He went to Seminary at General, was ordained in 1850 and became the General’s first music teacher five years later. It was in his final year teaching at General that he composed “We three Kings,” composing both the music and text. It was the first carol originating in the United States to gain widespread popularity, as well as the first to be featured in Christmas Carols, Old and New, a collection of carols published in the United Kingdom. In 1916 it was printed in the Episcopal Church’s Hymnal; that year being the first edition to include a separate section for Christmas and Epiphany. It was included in The Oxford Book of Carols in 1928 and was praised as “one of the most successful of modern composed carols.”