Traditional :: We Three Kings

Musicians Publications presents the Christmas classic 'We Three Kings' arranged for flute, clarinet, and optional piano by Bill Holcombe.

'John Henry Hopkins (1820-1891) was the son of an Episcopal priest who was later Bishop of Vermont. He received a bachelor s and master s degree from the University of Vermont intending to go on to law school, but then he felt the Holy Spirit s prompting to go into the ministry instead. He graduated in 1850 from General Theological Seminary in New York City.

In 1855 he became the seminary s first music teacher and served there for two years. He wrote the hymn 'We Three Kings' in 1857, and it received its first performance at the Christmas pageant there.

It appears, however, that he didn t have the seminary in mind as he wrote it. He traveled back to Vermont every Christmas and, being a bachelor, always prepared a surprise for his nieces and nephews. In 1857 it was his new hymn, which fit well with the family tradition of dramatizing the Christmas story.

Family and friends loved it immediately. Hopkins included it as 'Three Kings of Orient' in a compilation of his music published in 1863 titled Carols, Hymns, and Songs, the first of several compilations that established him as a leading composer of hymns in the Episcopal church. Thirty of his hymns appear in various Episcopal hymnals, but only 'We Three Kings' is well known outside that denomination.'

- David Guion, 2015