The Three Kings - Euphonium Solo with Brass Band

The Three Kings, or Three Kings From Persian Lands Afar, is a Christmas carol by the German composer Peter Cornelius. He set Die Konige for a vocal soloist, accompanied by Philip Nicolai's hymn Wie schon leuchtet der Morgenstern ('How Brightly Shines the Morning Star'), which he erroneously thought was an Epiphany hymn. In fact, it is an Advent hymn in which the morning star is an allegory for the arrival of Jesus, not the Star of Bethlehem.

In Cornelius' original second setting, the accpompaniment was played on a piano but the English organist Ivor Atkins later arranged the accompaniment for choir, with the choir singing the words of the original hymn. The carol describes the visit of the Biblical Magi to the Infant Jesus during the Nativity and is also used as an Epiphany anthem.

To view a rolling score video of Mark Giles performing the solo with GUS Band, please visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsLVNknim7w

The piece is lightly scored with parts for:

Soloist, Soprano, 1st & 2nd Cornet, 1st & 2nd Horn, 1st & 2nd Bari, 1st 2nd & Bass Troms, 2nd Euph, Eb & Bb Bass.

No percussion part. Flugel is with 2nd Cornet. Repiano and 3rd cornets are not scored. Solo Horn is not Scored.

For completeness we supply hard copy sets with the following, but some players may be kept tacid to create the correct ambience for the soloist:

5 copies of 1st cornet (to include Repiano)

5 copies of 2nd cornet/Flugel (to include 3rd cornets)

2 copies of 1st Horn to include Solo Horn