Music Biography

He has written several books, mainly relating to Classical Music. His opus magnum, The Social History of Music, ranges from ancient to 20th century music, placing composers and their work in cultural and economic contexts.

An example of Raynor's thought is his thesis that the orchestral bombast that developed in Nineteenth Century Romantic music was spurred by the need to capture and maintain a fickle, musically-untrained paying audience. The demise of aristocratic patronage after the Napoleanic Wars left composers and performers in search of news ways to sustain a career in music.

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