The world’s longest musical performance has entered a new harmonic phase after a new pipe was added to the organ at St. Burchardi Church in Halberstadt.
One of the world’s most extraordinary musical events marked another milestone on Wednesday as the ongoing performance of John Cage’s ORGAN²/ASLSP (As Slow As Possible) underwent its latest scheduled chord change.
At 3 p.m. local time, an A4 pipe was added to the specially built organ inside St. Burchardi Church, transforming the existing seven-note sonority into an eight-note chord. The change was carried out before an audience that gathered for the occasion, continuing a tradition that has drawn visitors from around the world whenever the score requires a new note.
A performance measured in centuries
Unlike a conventional concert, the Halberstadt performance unfolds over 639 years, making it the longest musical performance ever attempted. It began on 5 September 2001 and is scheduled to continue until the year 2640.
Cage originally wrote As Slow As Possible for piano in 1985 before adapting it for organ two years later. The seemingly simple instruction contained in the title—”as slow as possible”—prompted musicians and scholars to ask just how slowly the work could realistically be performed.
The answer emerged in Halberstadt, where the duration was linked to local musical history. In 1361, the city’s cathedral received one of the earliest organs with a modern 12-note keyboard layout. The 639 years between that date and the year 2000 became the conceptual duration of the project.
The performance officially began with a 17-month silence before the first notes sounded in February 2003. Since then, the music has evolved through infrequent note and chord changes, separated by months or even years, making each alteration a significant event.
Music as a different experience of time
The performance takes place in the medieval St. Burchardi Church, a building dating from around 1050 that has served over the centuries as a monastery, a barn and even a stable before being restored as the home of the Cage project.
More than two decades after the first notes were heard, the installation continues to attract musicians, scholars and visitors fascinated by its radical rethinking of musical time. Rather than offering a conventional listening experience, the project invites audiences to reflect on duration, continuity and the relationship between generations—ideas that lie at the heart of Cage’s artistic vision.
The next scheduled change in the centuries-long performance is not expected for several years, making each new chord a rare milestone in one of the most ambitious musical projects ever conceived.
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