We Three Kings of Orient Are

The writer. John Henry Hopkins Jr. was born in Pittsburgh on 28 October 1820, the son of John Henry Hopkins, who became the Episcopal bishop of Vermont ^[4][8][11]. He graduated from the University of Vermont in 1839 and the General Theological Seminary in New York in 1850, and was ordained a deacon that year ^{[9][11][4][8]}. He then taught music at the seminary, and in 1853 founded and edited the Church Journal, a church newspaper ^[4][9][7]. He was ordained priest only in 1872, after twenty-two years as a deacon, and served as rector at Plattsburgh, New York, and from 1876 at Williamsport, Pennsylvania ^[4][9][8].

The carol. Hopkins wrote the words and the tune together ^[4][7][13]. The book's third edition, of 1882, prints 1857 at the foot of the carol ^[3]. Hymnary.org and the United Methodist Hymnal give the same year ^[12][14]. Hymnology Archive found nothing written in 1857 to confirm it, and reports notices and printings of the carol from late 1858 on, before the book, which we have not seen ^[7].

Myth and record. Often told: Hopkins wrote it for a Christmas pageant at the General Theological Seminary ^[11][7]. Another story says it was a surprise Christmas present for his nieces and nephews in Vermont ^[10][11]. What the record shows: Sweet's life of Hopkins (1894) mentions neither a pageant nor a gift for children, and Hymnology Archive found no mention of a pageant in the Church Journal or the seminary's history, and no mention of either story in Hopkins's biographies ^[4][7]. Neither is documented.

The book of 1863. Its title page reads "Carols, Hymns, and Songs; by John H. Hopkins, Jr., M.A., Deacon", published by the Church Book Depository, 762 Broadway, New York, with no year ^[1]. Library catalogues date the book, with a question mark, to 1863, as most hymnologists do, but Julian's Dictionary of Hymnology gave 1862 and the Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology gives 1865 ^{[1][12][7][8][10]}. Three Kings of Orient is the second of five Christmas carols, on pages 12 and 13 ^[1]. The music is in 3/8 time with one sharp. Three staves for the singers are headed GASPARD, MELCHIOR and BALTHAZAR, over a keyboard part, and the chorus, "O Star of Wonder", is set in harmony and followed by a short keyboard "Interlude" ^[1]. Below it, verses 2, 3 and 4 each carry a king's name, and the gifts and what they stand for are set in small capitals: King and Gold, Frankincense and God, Myrrh ^[1]. A note at the foot of page 12 says: "Men's voices are best for the parts of the Three Kings, but the music is set in the G clef for the accommodation of children" ^[1].

The preface lets other compilers reprint any piece, "provided they leave what they take unaltered", and threatens anyone who alters them without leave with prosecution "to the extent of the law" ^[1].

Later editions. In 1865 an illustrated edition of the carol alone came out as a Christmas gift book ^[11][7][10]. The book's second edition, its preface signed in November 1872, changed the "Hallelujah" of the last verse to "Alleluia" ^[2].

Hopkins died in his sleep in August 1891: his doctor, E. D. Ferguson, wrote on 14 August that he had died "shortly after midnight" at Ferguson's place near Hudson, New York ^[4][9]. Julian's Dictionary gives Troy and 13 August instead ^[8].

An "ancient carol". Its tune sounded so old, Sweet noted, that it had been called an "ancient carol" in England, where Hopkins was unknown, and in America too ^[4][5].

The carol retells Matthew's Gospel: "there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem", asking where the new King of the Jews was born, "for we have seen his star in the east"; the star went before them to Bethlehem, and there they "presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh" ^[16]. Matthew does not say how many there were, and does not call them kings ^[16][18][7]. Tertullian linked them with Psalm 72, where "the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts", and called them all but kings ^{[16][17][18][7]}. Latin tradition later named them Gaspar, Melchior and Balthasar: the Catholic Encyclopedia finds the names from the seventh century, Hymnology Archive by the sixth ^[18][7]. Hopkins spells them Gaspard, Melchior and Balthazar ^[1].

Verse 1. All three kings sing. They carry gifts from the East and "traverse afar", travel far, over field and fountain (a spring), moor (open heath) and mountain, following the star that Matthew says "went before them" ^[23][16].

The chorus. The singers praise the star and ask it to guide them too. The kings travel west from the East, so the star is "westward leading", and "still proceeding", always going on ahead, to its "perfect Light", which the capital L makes the child ^[1][16].

Verse 2, Gaspard: gold. Gold is the gift for a king: Gaspard's gold crowns the child born a king, "King for ever", who will reign over everyone ^[1].

Verse 3, Melchior: frankincense. Frankincense is a fragrant resin, the incense of the next line ^[24]. "Incense owns a Deity nigh": to own is to acknowledge, so the incense acknowledges that God is near ^[25]. The verse then turns to prayer and praise, as a psalm asks, "Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense" ^[16].

Verse 4, Balthazar: myrrh. Myrrh is a bitter, sweet-smelling gum resin ^[26]. In John's Gospel, Nicodemus brings myrrh and aloes to wrap the body of Jesus for burial ^[16]. So the myrrh "breathes", that is, gives off, a life heading into darkness: sorrow, suffering, death and a tomb sealed with a stone, as Matthew tells of the guards "sealing the stone" ^[16].

Verse 5. All three sing again. The child has risen from that tomb, and the verse names him with the three gifts at once: "King, and God, and Sacrifice". It is the same reading of the gifts that the early Christian writer Origen gave: gold "as to a king", myrrh "as to one who was mortal", and incense "as to a God" ^[1][20][7]. Heaven sings Hallelujah and the earth answers.

It belongs to the Epiphany, 6 January, "the Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles" in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, with the wise men of Matthew 2 as its Gospel; in the West the feast came to centre on their visit ^[21][19]. Hopkins filed it among his carols for "Christmas-tide", and the Canterbury Dictionary notes that it is often sung at Christmas ^[1][10]. The Episcopal Hymnal 1982 prints it under Epiphany, No. 128, and the United Methodist Hymnal of 1989 under both Christmas and Epiphany, No. 254 ^[15][14].

Its tune is KINGS OF ORIENT, called THREE KINGS OF ORIENT in the Hymnal 1982, and its meter is 8.8.4.4.6 with refrain ^[13][14][15].

Hopkins planned it as a little drama: a trio for the three kings, then each king alone with his gift, to Gaspard's part, then the trio again ^[1][7]. Our arrangement is read from his pages 12 and 13, the earliest printing we have seen. It sings the two trio verses, 1 and 5, each with the Chorus, in his E minor turning to G major, written in 3/4 with each of his quavers a beat, and keeps his "Hallelujah", where his editions of 1872 and 1882 print "Alleluia" ^[1][2][3]. The soprano sings his tune, every note of it. The alto, tenor and bass are adapted for 2 to 4 beginners from his trio, its accompaniment and his four-part Chorus, with a tenor of our own in the verse and his keyboard interlude left out.

• Alleluia. From the second edition of 1872, Hopkins's own book prints "Alleluia" for "Hallelujah" in the last verse ^[2][3].
• "Old English", 1875. The Sunny Side, a New York Sunday-school book, printed it as an old English carol with only three verses: the second king's gold is for "a babe on Beth'lem's plain", the third brings frankincense and "costly myrrh" together, and the verse of the tomb is gone ^[5].
• Bramley and Stainer. Their Christmas Carols New and Old, from Novello in London, took it into its third series in 1878 ^[7][10]. The collected edition prints it as No. 45 in four-part harmony, with no author named. It gives verse 2, with the gold, to Melchior and verse 3, with the frankincense, to Caspar, and ends "Alleluia, Alleluia; Earth to the heavens replies". No. 45 is not among the carols its preface recommends for church ^[6][7].

• Soprano: Hopkins's tune, most often on G, from the low D to the top D, which comes once a verse, on the "moun-" of "mountain," and the "Hal-" of the second "Hallelujah"; each Chorus dips to the low D at the end of "Wonder," and "Royal" and on "Thy".
• Alto: under the tune, most often on E, then B. Under "Orient are," and "traverse afar," it climbs D-sharp, E, F-sharp, G, ending a third above the tune's E, and in each Chorus it sits on its low B under the tune's G.
• Tenor: the middle of the chord, most often on G, then B; in the verse it is our own, holding B through the first two lines. Its top D-sharp comes only on the "der" of "yonder" and the "re-" of "replies.", and the last "Light." is its low D.
• Bass: the roots of the chords, most often on its low G, then E. It holds that low G under "Moor and mountain," and climbs to its top G only on the "ing," of "Westward leading,".