Back to: The Twelve Days of Christmas Carols
John Henry Hopkins, Jr. was born in Pittsburgh in 1820 from European parents. His father was successively an ironmaster, school teacher, lawyer, priest, and second Episcopal bishop of Vermont, becoming presiding bishop in 1865. The son reflected the artistic talents of both parents in music, poetry, and art.
After graduation from the University of Vermont in 1839, he worked as a reporter in New York City while studying law. From 1842 to 1844, he tutored the children of Bishop Elliott of Savannah, Georgia, returning to take his M.A. from Vermont in 1845. He graduated from General Theological Seminary in 1850 and was ordained deacon. From 1855 to 1857, he served as the first instructor in church music at the Seminary. He founded and edited the Church Journal from 1853 to 1868.
He was writing for that publication in 1857 when he confronted a special problem— what Epiphany gifts he should purchase for his brothers’ children? Ultimately, Hopkins decided to give a present that would both entertain and educate at the same time.
Having decided on his gift, Hopkins sat down at his desk with a single goal in mind: to write a moving tribute to the legendary visitors from the East described in the gospel of Matthew. To accomplish this mission, the writer imagined what it might have been like to be one of the wise men combining the biblical record of the trip with the legends passed down over almost two thousand years.
Accounts mention Hopkins wrote the carol for this family. Other accounts suggest Hopkins wrote, “We Three Kings” for a Christmas pageant held at the college. It was originally titled “Three Kings of Orient” and was one of the few carols where the words and melody were written by the same person.
The cadence of his melody fully captured the image of a trip across the desert and plains on camels. The carol had an oriental, Middle Eastern feel to it and its rhythm reflected the beat of a march or the sway of a camel’s gait. Originally titled “Three Kings of Orient”, it was sung within his circle of family and friends.
Because of the popularity, it achieved among them, Hopkins decided to publish the carol in 1863 in his book, Carols, Hymns, and Songs. It was the first Christmas carol originating from the United States to achieve widespread popularity, as well as the first to be featured in Christmas Carols Old and New, a collection of carols that was published in the United Kingdom. In 1916, the carol was printed in the hymnal for the Episcopal Church; that year’s edition was the first to have a separate section for Christmas songs.
Hopkins was one of the great leaders in the development of hymnody in the Episcopal church during the mid-nineteenth century. His Carols, Hymns, and Songs, first published in 1863, had a fourth edition in 1883. His Canticles Noted with Accompanying Harmonies, 1866, likewise went through several editions. His collected Poems by the Wayside was published in 1883. In 1887, he edited Bishop John Freeman Young’s Great Hymns of the Church.