“When life gets boring, I listen to classical music!”

Just like taking nutritional supplements every day, like running
A new power that changes my life

★★ All songs included in KBS Classic FM's "Classical Music Loved by Koreans"
★★ Includes 365 QR codes for music tracks that match the season and date.

Many people find classical music difficult.
Because of the length of the songs, which are usually over 10 to 20 minutes and have long titles like a code with complex numbers and alphabets, it is easy to give up before even listening.
However, classical music is more ingrained in our daily lives than we might think. It's frequently featured in TV commercials and movies, countless pop songs are composed based on classical melodies, and it's even used as cheering anthems for sports teams.
So why do people still find classical music difficult? It's because we still have fewer opportunities to experience it compared to pop music.
Just as people become more comfortable and attractive when they see each other often, classical music also becomes familiar and easier when you listen to it often.
So, the way to master the classics is simple.
You just need to start by developing the habit of listening.


The power of classics has already been widely proven in the scientific and medical fields.
It relieves anxiety and stress by increasing the happiness hormones endorphin, serotonin, oxytocin, and dopamine, and decreasing the stress hormone cortisol.
It is literally a ‘medicine for the ears.’
Now, why not add listening to classical music to your daily routine of reading for 10 minutes in the morning, stretching, napping, taking a walk, and writing in your journal?

For the author, who has been a pianist and classical lecturer for over 20 years, listening to classical music was a habit that solidified his day, like running, meditating, or taking a nutritional supplement every morning.
This book was born from the collection of short reflections I wrote down daily while listening to music. Based on the list of "Classical Music Loved by Koreans" published by KBS Classic FM, the playlist features songs familiar to Koreans. Each day, a page tells the fascinating story of each piece and its composer.
For those who want to know more about classical music but are unsure where to start, this book will be a great guide.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750, Germany) was a man who was associated with words like basic, fundamental, sincerity, and consistency.
Maybe that's why the first composer that comes to mind on New Year's Day is Bach.
Small, fulfilling days come together to create a month, a year, a decade.
It's great to have grand plans or ambitious goals, but as I get older, I realize that it's more valuable to find joy in everyday life and live each day to the fullest, 365 days a year.

--- From "January 1, Bach: Prelude No. 1, BWV. 846"

Although Mozart's reality was shabby, his music was never shabby.
What we should feel from Mozart's music is not the life of a genius who sailed smoothly with the wind, but his inner strength that elegantly transformed the sorrow of life.
There are times when you have to endure in silence instead of complaining or getting angry at the world.
When I listen to this song, I think of the following line from Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya:

--- From "February 11, Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 20 K. 466, 1st Movement"

Johann Strauss II composed mainly instrumental music that could be danced to, but this piece is not an instrumental piece but a vocal piece.
It was composed to allow the coloratura soprano, the highest voice among sopranos and a singer with brilliant technique, to fully display her skills.
It is said to have been created for the famous soprano Bianchi, who was active in Vienna in 1885.
This song requires considerable skill to control one's breathing as it has many high notes and each verse is long.
However, because the melody is simple and in a repetitive rondo form, it is easy to hum along.
Let's appreciate this song, which is spring itself, singing, "Everything is adding light with spring/ Now that hardship is over and sorrow is approaching with gentleness/ The sound of spring is heard tenderly by our side."

--- From "March 5, Johann Strauss II: 'Voices of Spring Waltz'"

Liszt composed many studies, commonly called 'études'.
Among them, the piece considered to be the most difficult is the “Transcendental Technique Etudes.”
Of the twelve pieces included in the suite, ten are titled and two (Nos. 2 and 10) are untitled.
His works are said to be difficult to play even with twenty fingers, and his close friend and composer Hector Berlioz acknowledged the difficulty of the pieces, saying:
“Liszt composed this music solely for himself, and there is not a single person in the world who can boast of being able to play it properly.”
--- From "April 26, Liszt: Mazeppa from the Transcendental Etudes"

If you are having a hard time sleeping at night, try listening to Sati's music.
There are three Gymnopedies, but the first one is the most famous.
Gymnopédie is the French spelling of the English word Gymnopaedia.
It was an annual event in ancient Sparta, and it is said that naked young men danced with a chorus and praised the gods during this festival.
Gymnos means 'naked' in ancient Greek, and paedia means 'youth, young people'.
This song is quite familiar, especially because it is often used in commercials and as psychotherapy music.
It's a comfortable music that makes you close your eyes and listen to it comfortably as the languid melody keeps repeating.

--- From "June 12, Satie: Gymnopedie No. 1"

In 1898, Mahler was elected music director of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
This piece is imbued with Mahler's ten years in Vienna and his love story with his wife.
He began composing his Symphony No. 5 in 1901, but suffered from severe intestinal bleeding and lost his health. However, he completed the symphony safely the following year and married the beautiful and talented Alma Schindler, spending a period of time going back and forth between heaven and hell.
Although he could not stop thinking about anxiety and death, he never gave up on life because of his passion for music.

--- From "July 7, Mahler: Symphony No. 5, 4th Movement"

During Mozart's time, musicians desperately needed patrons to support them financially, but Mozart suffered from extreme financial poverty after the death of his strong patron, Emperor Joseph II of Austria.
Mozart, whose debts were mounting, was asked by his friend and playwright, Emanuel Schikaneder, to compose a Singspiel (opera in German) to be performed at the theater he ran. This resulted in The Magic Flute, which is considered one of Mozart's three greatest operas along with The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni.

--- From "November 25, Mozart: Overture to the Opera "The Magic Flute"