John Raynor's biographical page

which contains:

some biographical notes by Olwen Picton-Jones

some further notes by Geoffrey Davies

 pictures from Raynor's childhood

a listing of a recording on an audio tape held in the British Music Information Centre

information on published editions of John Raynor's compostions

facsimiles of autographed title pages for The Californy Song and My Own Country

A brief biography

John Raynor was run over by a car on Easter Eve 1970. He was crossing the road after playing the organ for the Easter Vigil ceremonies at the church opposite his home. He remained unconscious in hospital and died on Ascension Day.

He was born at 3 Little Dean's Yard, Westminster, on 5 June 1909. His father, Arthur Guy Sandars Raynor, was Master of the King's Scholars at Westminster School. His mother was Ada Shute Raynor.

John studied at the Royal College of Music and was St Nicolas scholar at the School of English Church Music when it was founded by Sir Sydney Nicholson in 1929. In his book 'A Westminster Childhood' he describes how for the first time at the age of four, the Abbey spoke to him through the organ. The chiming and striking of Big Ben were also to have an influence upon him, and he writes ... 'The hands of this divine clock slowly moving closer and closer to the quarter; until, after a breathless pause as the minute-hand slid squarely into the three, six, nine or twelve, the bells would ring sharply out over the sea of roofs that lay between the clock tower and me ..... most beautiful of all was when a fresh strong wind was blowing; for then the chimes would be wafted first one way, then another; a loud note, a soft; a change of timbre and tone that trembled in its changing, as though cloud and sun chased one another across the heart of the bell'.

Clocks became a hobby and he was skilful in repairing and cleaning them. Musical boxes had a fascination for him and he collected a number of interesting ones found in junk-shops.

Kaithewood, the bungalow where John Raynor lived for more than thirty years, was a large army hut dating from the first world war when there was a camp at Roffey, near Horsham. It was the officers' mess and the rooms are spacious and lofty. The front garden was allowed to become wild and overgrown and this helped to deaden the sound of traffic on the main road. Trees and shrubs were planted at the back to form a screen against encroaching housing development. The entire garden became a bird sanctuary in spite of the fact that there was always a cat around.

The study of Lepidoptera is strong in the Raynor family, but after John left his parents' roof he no longer collected butterflies and moths, but would bring home from country walks the handsome caterpillars of hawk-moths to feed and keep safely until the final metamorphosis. To see him with a Poplar hawk-moth on the back of his hand, ready to set it free at dusk, was a moving sight. The insect's wings would begin to vibrate with increasing rapidity, and then suddenly it would launch itself into space flying strongly against the darkening sky.

It frequently happened that when John went to Cornwall for his annual summer holiday, caterpillars would be left behind for his friends to feed and look after. Although they were not entomologists, these friends would be expected to know the precise moment when a caterpillar needed to go to earth, and to have in readiness a box of sand. Sometimes these activities interfered with the housework in progress. A great effort was always made to give the bungalow a 'spring-cleaning' so that the composer would come back to well-polished pianos and furniture when he settled down for the autumn, usually a very creative period.

A weather-eye was kept on manuscript paper, so that it did not run out, and a search in second-hand book shops for lyric poetry was a regular chore.

The holiday in Cornwall was a very important part of the composer's life. He stayed year after year in the same cottage at St Hilary, near Penzance, and the visit would sometimes last as long as two months. He led an active life, cycling to his favourite coves several times a day, because he enjoyed swimming and walking on the cliffs, and the sight of St Michael's Mount by moonlight. He mixed with the Cornish people among whom he had many friends. This was a great contrast to his up-country way of life which was to a great extent that of a recluse.

When the moment came, he welcomed the thought of returning home because that was where his work was done. John Raynor had a small band of loyal friends who loved him as a person and believed utterly in the value of his music.

They did everything they could to keep the flame of his creativity burning brightly in a world that was every day becoming more materialistic. Kaithewood was a place from which they derived spiritual refreshment, and John was always ready and willing to help solve any problems they were faced with in their work-a-day lives. And he could do this with authority because of the true values he held. There was plenty of fun and laughter too. Until 1958 the bungalow was lit by oil lamps and candles; after electricity was installed John became interested in tape-recording. He would sing and play his songs over and over again until he was satisfied that the performance was as good as he could make it. Unfortunately many of these tapes have been scrubbed because if he needed to record a new song an older one would have to be sacrificed.

This is how a song began. His hand would reach out for a book of poems: he usually knew which one he wanted. There were dozens of books on the shelves which ran along one wall of his study, and the poetry books were together at one end. Having found the poem, the book might lie about, open, perhaps on the dining-room table, for several days, to be looked at from time to time. Thus. when he was ready to go to the piano, he had a good idea of what he was going to do, and might even have scribbled on the back of an envelope or any piece of paper to hand, fragments of melody, or just one phrase. All this in great secrecy. A thin wooden board was placed on the music stand of the upright Bechstein piano to support the manuscript paper, and the poetry book would be open on a small table beside him. Only rarely did he need to use an india rubber. He liked to get far into a song at the first sitting, if possible, and to break off only when he could hold the rest of it, so to speak, for a while.

He preferred to be alone in the bungalow at such times, but if he found that a friend had quietly prepared a meal, he would eat it without speaking, and return to the music-room.

Frank Baker, when describing another artist, wrote '... in this dedication to the chosen task I could see a single-mindedness which I had seldom encountered in anyone, except my friend John Raynor, who undeviatingly continued to compose his songs, whether they were sung or not'.

John Raynor had perfect pitch and was always displeased when his own songs or those of other composers were transposed. Key meant a great deal to him and there was always a good reason for his choice of key in every song he wrote. He would say, 'If an artist paints a picture in blues, shall we say, he would not like to see it reproduced in greens or reds'.

John Raynor was very sensitive to the psychic, and as a small child it was beyond him to question certain perceptions and knowledges. In later years he was to suffer from recurring dreams, the basis of which was fear of a psychic kind. However, he accepted this as he did other painful experiences, as part of his creativity - such was his courage.

He wrote the following on 3 December 1962.

'Several strange things have happened today; but I don't know what they were. They all seemed to be something to do with memory, and the meaning of objects. The feelings first occurred after breakfast, and persisted and were haunting. Before lunch, I went for a long walk across the frozen fields, almost as far as the Rusper road. When I was coming back, and was getting near the clump of pines by the railway line, I first felt strangely ill, and then knew that I was not alone; someone was walking with me. I went into the church after my return home, and spent a happy ten minutes before the Blessed Sacrament. I am not in the least mad; but have known some truly strange experiences today that I can in no way define ... and they culminated in my improvisations on Helmsley in the mainroom.

'Time has been cock-eyed all day. It is very, very cold weather; sunny but spectral: and this may have had something to do with my experiences, which were experiences rather than feelings. This is all I can say: and it is extremely odd. I have the greatest joy in being alone, if alone I am!'

In 1948 Vaughan Williams sponsored a recital of John Raynor's songs at the Wigmore Hall. The singers were Margaret Field-Hyde and Eric Greene and the accompanist was Michael Mullinar. After it, Frank Howes, critic of The Times, wrote of the composer ... . he can transmute a poem readily into music by the alchemy of the imagination, he writes both vocal line and piano accompaniment that are fluent and ingratiating; and he knows how to make an effective ending, whether by climax, by a clinching harmony or an instrumental epilogue'.

In Musical Opinion Gray-Fisk wrote, 'Mr Raynor is a skilled craftsman, and his vocal and piano parts blend perfectly; the piano writing, indeed, is always ingenious and effective, and his accompaniments - if such they can be called - are much more pianistic than the majority of Warlock's'.

The following is part of a letter from a friend who was in America at the time of John Raynor's death.

John was one of the purest artists who ever lived, one of the world's most beautiful people. It is just about forty years since we first met. Every second of the time I spent with him was fully alive and alert to the whole force of life, material and spiritual.

'What is to be done about the wonderful songs?'

This volume is the beginning of the answer to that question.

OLWEN PICTON-JONES

[Webmaster's notes:
1. Easter Eve 1970 was 28th March, and Ascension Day (the day of Raynor's death) was 7th May.
2. It is now believed that Raynor did not attend the English School of Church Music at its foundation, but very shortly afterwards.]

Further notes about John Raynor

Following the publication of "Eleven Songs by John Raynor" (Galliard, 1971), Olwen Picton-Jones was interviewed on Radio 3 by John Amis, whose attention had been drawn to the publication by Peter Dickinson and Donald Swan.  Olwen described how she first met the composer at the recital of his songs at the Wigmore Hall; they soon became close friends mainly because she was such a good listener and of course an accomplished accompanist.  John's composing she described as a ‘way of life’ so that he just had to keep on composing whether his music was performed or not.  It was always the poem which set him off, lyrical poems from which he produced the pure stream of song.  He had started off as a writer and for three years in succession he was awarded the best short story of the year.  Olwen described how John had a beautiful speaking voice and was quite a gourmet.  He also had faith that after his death something would be done with his music.
This interview on Radio 3 was followed by two recitals by Ian Partridge accompanied by Jennifer Partridge.

Pictures from John Raynor's childhood

In 1913, at the age of four, John Raynor attended the wedding of his sister, Edith, at Westminster Abbey, as a page.  Here is the bridal procession arriving at the Raynor home.

The wedding party at the Raynor home, 3 Little Dean's Yard, Westminster 30th July, 1913.

Here is a picture of John Raynor's mother, with her father, James Livingston, her daughter Edith (John's sister) and Edith's son Jack Westlake. Edith's husband was Francis Westlake, a canon and Keeper of the Muniments at Westminster Abbey; he died suddenly immediately after attending the funeral of Queen Alexandra, leaving Edith with four young children.

A John Raynor recording

Recordings on audio tape held by the British Music Information Centre

Look here if you'd like to contact the  British Music Information Centre

Published editions of John Raynor

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