Redefining the symphony: a cross-disciplinary study in the Korean context

The Korean symphony has mainly been studied descriptively, concentrating on chronologies or single composers. This study calibrates the claim of ‘redefining’ symphony by specifying it as a shift in the symphony’s cultural work – its meanings, reception and institutional functions – while remaining structurally anchored in European symphonic tradition. Using programme notes from major Korean orchestras, selected symphonic works, composer statements and recent scholarship, it traces the etymology of gyohyanggok (교향곡, ‘symphony’) from a colonial-era borrowing associated with Western modernity to a naturalised term within Korea’s cultural lexicon. We show how composers and institutions in South Korea re-articulate inherited symphonic paradigms through Korean melodic materials, timbral markers (including traditional instruments) and historically situated narratives, as well as how cultural-emotional frameworks – han (profound sorrow), jeong (affective connectedness), and heung (collective vitality) – mediate both reception and compositional intent. On this basis, the Korean symphony emerges as a transcultural platform: formally continuous with European models yet contextually recast as a vehicle for local identity, emotional catharsis and cultural storytelling, demonstrating indigenisation and innovation within an inherited art-music genre.