Crowds fill the old walls of the St. Buchardi church in Halberstadt, Germany, waiting in anticipation as the first chord change in the world's slowest and longest composition happened last Monday, Feb. 5, BBC reports.
Halberstadt in Saxony Anhalt. The organ used for the "Organ²/ASLSP" avant-garde musical project by John Cage.
The World's Longest Composition, John Cage's 'As Slow as Possible'
This avant-garde piece was by famed American composer and music theorist, John Cage, and his "instrumentalist," a custom-made special organ. Dubbed "As Slow as Possible," the composition is as the name implies as it is planned to play until the year 2640.
In perspective, that is around 616 years away, or roughly the same amount of time from now when the Renaissance movement was just gearing up in Europe.
That said, it has already made 16 chord changes since its inaugural start back in 2001 but the first notes were only played two years in the performance in 2003.
Because of this "once-in-a-blue-moon" kind of change, many would-be visitors of the unique musical exhibition booked their tickets months and even years in advance to be able to witness last Monday's chord change.
As per the compositional exhibition's official website, the next change is due in another two years and six months from now, on Aug. 5, 2026.
Shrunk down back to its original proportions during its 1987 premiere, the piece is only conventionally lengthy with around 30 minutes of run time. However, the succeeding performances were more akin to the St. Buchardi version.
One such iteration was arranged by organist Diane Luchese in 2009. Overall, this particular rendition lasted 14 hours and 56 minutes. Not quite as long as 600-plus years, sure, but still pretty lengthy by contemporary standards.
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Why the 'Organ²/ASLSP' Started in the First Place
The currently running century-spanning rendition of Cage's piece was made after philosophers and musicians thought up the concept during a meeting that took place after the American composer's passing in 1992.
Conversely, this version of the piece debuted on what would have been the 89th birthday of the composer, whose high reputation in the experimental and avant-garde musical space led him to be considered one of the movement's 20th-century forerunners.
The instrument that played his piece was equally engineered with much thought and deliberation as practicality was the foremost consideration, especially because of the centuries-long playtime.
Because of this, the organ is mostly mechanical. The note-playing mechanism was performed by an electronic wind machine that indefinitely pushes air into its pipes.
The pushing device, on the other hand, is less sophisticated as plain old sandbags are used to weigh down the keys to produce the droning notes.
