John Raynor

John Raynor (artist unknown).
This is the website of English song composer John Raynor
.John Raynor (artist unknown)

Born in 1909, John Theodore Livingston Raynor attended the Royal College of Music and was St. Nicolas Scholar at the School of English Church Music (now the Royal School of Church Music) in 1929.
 
He wrote more than 680 works, mostly song settings for soprano or tenor soloist, but also sacred pieces including carols and a Mass setting.  Until recently he remained largely unknown, though his music was championed by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
 
He lived for over 30 years in Sussex, at Roffey, near Horsham, where most of his composing was done, though enjoyed holidays in Cornwall.  He died in 1970 as the result of a road accident.

This site
NEW !
A successful concert at St Mary's Church, Stafford, England on 1st September saw Chris Bown sing Love is a sickness by John Raynor, among other items of her repertoire, to an appreciative audience.
Watch this space ...
NEW !

His works

  • John Raynor's  song catalogue  (76Kb)
    • This lists, for each of his 680 compositions, the title, date, opus number and author of the lyrics.  The list includes items for which the manuscript is unavailable.

    The original manuscripts of John Raynor's music have been deposited with the Royal School of Church Music where they are available for academic study by prior appointment with the Hon. Librarian.
  • A downloadable .ZIP (68Kb) of Raynor's full catalogue.
    • It's in spreadsheet (Excel 5) form so that you can sort the catalogue by author, title, date, key, etc., and read John Raynor's dedications and other comments on his music.
  • a list of published editions of John Raynor's compositions
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  • a listing of a recording on audio tape held in the British Music Information Centre
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  • first pages of items from Eleven Songs by John Raynor :
    		•  'Eleven Songs by John Raynor', pub. Galliard, 1971

    His life

  • biographical notes about John Raynor by:
  • Olwen Picton-Jones
  • Geoffrey Davies
    		•
  • photographs and pictures
  • photographs of his childhood years and of his family.
  • a portrait of Raynor as a young man (artist unknown)
  • a photo and another photo of Raynor in his later years (taken at Kaithewood, Roffey, Sussex)
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    Links

    John Raynor received his musical education at:
  •  Royal School of Church MusicRoyal School of Church Music (previously the School of English Church Music)

    • The RSCM now hold the original manuscripts of John Raynor's music; for academic study, please contact the Hon. Librarian.
     
  • Royal School of MusicRoyal College of Music
    • The English lyric tenor Ian Partridge, CBE Ian Partridge  has performed some of John Raynor's works on his radio & television broadcasts
    Search engines for those interested in British song (titles, authors, composers and lyrics) can be found at:

     
  • British Music Information Centre New Voices  The British Music Information Centre lists contemporary composers' songs
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  • REC Music Foundation Emily Ezust's REC Music Foundation site lists the words of over 10,000 songs and lieder, including some of Raynor's works.
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  • There is a useful database of British song at The White Cliffs of Dover British Song 
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    Information on other English composers can be found at:
  •  Jos Smeets'  Classical Composers Database - a growing listing
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  • Dr Len Mullenger's pages of Classical Music on the Web featuring British Composers, particularly lesser-known composers from the first part of this century
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  • Paul James's Missing Composers Index 
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  • A multilingual composer information site at Karadar 
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    Finally, there are some light-hearted musical links on Ken, surveying Guernsey from Castle Cornet Ken Edensor's website.

    Acknowledgements

    My thanks to Geoffrey and Lorna Davies of Stafford, England, whose idea this site was, and who painstakingly transcribed the catalogue, resolved anomalies of spelling and dates, proof-read my efforts and provided me with tea and encouragement.
    The site is constantly under review - more details will be added when they come to hand.

    Please contact me to provide feedback on the site or if you have further information about John Raynor.

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    This page last changed 1 September 2000
    © 1999 Ken Edensor