The name means "Tang music", and the style was first adapted from Tang Dynasty Chinese music during the Unified Silla period in the late first millennium.
It was continued through the Goryeo (918–1392) and Joseon (1392–1910) dynasties, when, along with hyangak and aak it was one of the three approved genres of court music.
Together with hyangak, during the Joseon Dynasty dangak performances were the charge of the Jeonakseo (hangul: 전악서; hanja: 典樂署; 1394–1457) and later of the Jangagwon (hangul: 장악원; hanja: 掌樂院), the court office of music.
[1] One of the most famous pieces in the dangak repertoire is called Nakyangchun (낙양춘; 洛陽春; lit.
The American composer Lou Harrison, who studied traditional music in South Korea in 1941, created an arrangement of this work.