Five of the best modern Christmas carols<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
Five of the best ancient Christmas carols<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
The 25 greatest Christmas carols of all time<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
Six of the best pieces of Christmas choral music<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
<\/p><\/div> <\/section>
What is the story behind \u2018We Three Kings\u2019?<\/h2>\n
The carol follows the story of the Three Wise Men (or Three Kings)\u00a0 as they travel to visit Jesus in Bethlehem and give him their three gifts of gold, frankincense and Myrrh. the three kings were also known collectively as Magi and individually as Melchior,\u00a0Caspar\u00a0and\u00a0Balthazar.<\/p>\n
The carol was designed for everyone to sing the first and fifth verse, while verses 2,3 and 4 would be sung solo by three different male voices to represent each of the three kings.\u00a0 However nowadays the solos are not usually observed and everyone sings the whole carol.<\/p>\n
What are the lyrics to \u2018We Three Kings\u2019?<\/h2>\n
1. We\u00a0Three Kings\u00a0of\u00a0Orient\u00a0are,\nBearing gifts we traverse afar,\nField and fountain,\nMoor and mountain,\nFollowing yonder\u00a0Star.<\/p>\n
Chorus<\/b><\/p>\n
O Star of Wonder, Star of Night,\nStar with Royal Beauty bright,\nWestward leading,\nStill proceeding,\nGuide us to Thy perfect Light.<\/p>\n
Gaspard.<\/p>\n
2. Born a\u00a0King\u00a0on\u00a0Bethlehem\u00a0plain,\nGold\u00a0I bring to crown\u00a0Him\u00a0again,\nKing for ever,\nCeasing never\nOver us all to reign.\nO Star, &c.<\/p>\n
Melchior.<\/p>\n
3.\u00a0Frankincense\u00a0to offer have I,\nIncense\u00a0owns a\u00a0Deity\u00a0nigh:\nPrayer\u00a0and praising\nAll men raising,\nWorship Him\u00a0God\u00a0on High.\nO Star, &c.<\/p>\n
Balthazar.<\/p>\n
4.\u00a0Myrrh\u00a0is mine; its bitter perfume\nBreathes a life of gathering gloom;\u2014\nSorrowing, sighing,\nBleeding, dying,\nSealed in the stone-cold tomb.\nO Star, &c.<\/p>\n
5. Glorious now behold Him arise,\nKing, and\u00a0God, and\u00a0Sacrifice;\nHeav\u2019n sings\u00a0Hallelujah:\nHallelujah the earth replies.\nO Star, &c.<\/p>\n\n<section class=\""highlight\"><div class=\""highlight__content\" editor-content=\"\"> <ul><li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/whats-the-difference-between-a-christmas-carol-and-a-hymn\/"\">What\u2019s the difference between a Christmas carol and a hymn?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/carol-singing-when-did-the-tradition-begin\/"\">Carol singing: When did the Christmas tradition begin?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/what-is-the-festival-of-nine-lessons-and-carols\/"\">What is the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/brief-history-christmas-music\/"\">How did Christmas music start?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul><p> <\/p><\/div> <\/section><section class=\""template-article__editor-content\" editor-content=\"\" ev-meter-content=\"\"><strong>Find more\u00a0<a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/tag\/christmas-carol-lyrics\/"\">lyrics to your favourite Christmas carols here<\/a><\/strong><strong>Top image by Getty Images<\/strong><\/section><div class=\""template-article__post-content"\">\n<div class=\""template-article__im-monetizer101-price-comparison"\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\""template-article__social-share"\">\n<div class=\""template-article__social-share\" template-article__social-share--headline-led=\"\">\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By BBC Music Magazine Published: Wednesday, 15 December 2021 at 12:00 am Who composed and wrote \u2018We Three Kings\u2019? Also known as \u2018We Three Kings of Orient are\u2019 the carol \u2018We Three Kings\u2019 was written and composed in 1857 for a New York Christmas pageant by\u00a0 John Henry Hopkins Jr., although it wasn\u2019t published until […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":7711,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/12\/what-are-the-lyrics-to-we-three-kings.jpg",1890,1417,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/12\/what-are-the-lyrics-to-we-three-kings-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/12\/what-are-the-lyrics-to-we-three-kings-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/12\/what-are-the-lyrics-to-we-three-kings-768x576.jpg",768,576,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/12\/what-are-the-lyrics-to-we-three-kings-1024x768.jpg",800,600,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/12\/what-are-the-lyrics-to-we-three-kings-1536x1152.jpg",1536,1152,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/12\/what-are-the-lyrics-to-we-three-kings.jpg",1890,1417,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By BBC Music Magazine Published: Wednesday, 15 December 2021 at 12:00 am Who composed and wrote \u2018We Three Kings\u2019? Also known as \u2018We Three Kings of Orient are\u2019 the carol \u2018We Three Kings\u2019 was written and composed in 1857 for a New York Christmas pageant by\u00a0 John Henry Hopkins Jr., although it wasn\u2019t published until…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/7710"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}