Description
Listen to the beginner piano arrangement of Brightest and Best
Brightest and Best was written in 1811 by the Anglican bishop Reginald Heber to be sung at the feast of Epiphany, a feast that commemorates the visit of the Magi to the Christ child. It can be sung to a number of tunes, including “Morning Star” by James P. Harding, “Epiphany” by Joseph Thrupp, and “Star in the East” by William Walker.
Reginald Heber was an English bishop, traveller, man of letters and hymn-writer who, after working as a country parson for 16 years, served as the Bishop of Calcutta until his sudden death at the age of 42.
At the start of the 19th century the Anglican authorities officially disapproved of the singing of hymns in churches, other than metrical psalms. Heber was an admirer of the hymns of John Newton and William Cowper, and was one of the first Anglicans to write his own hymns.
* This hymn arrangement is also available in our book:
