Raymond, what do you mean it's 639 years long?
Yeah, I'm definitely a good composer. Definitely.
Posted on 01/06/2006 4:42:30 PM PST by Borges
HALBERSTADT, Germany (AFP) - A new chord was scheduled to sound in the world's slowest and longest lasting concert that is taking a total 639 years to perform.
The abandoned Buchardi church in Halberstadt, eastern Germany, is the venue for a mind-boggling 639-year-long performance of a piece of music by US experimental composer John Cage (1912-1992).
Entitled "organ2/ASLSP" (or "As SLow aS Possible"), the performance began on September 5, 2001 and is scheduled to last until 2639.
The first year and half of the performance was total silence, with the first chord -- G-sharp, B and G-sharp -- not sounding until February 2, 2003.
Then in July 2004, two additional Es, an octave apart, were sounded and are scheduled to be released later this year on May 5.
But at 5:00 pm (1600 GMT) on Thursday, the first chord was due to progress to a second -- comprising A, C and F-sharp -- and is to be held down over the next few years by weights on an organ being built especially for the project.
Cage originally conceived "ASLSP" in 1985 as a 20-minute work for piano, subsequently transcribing it for organ in 1987.
But organisers of the John Cage Organ Project decided to take the composer at his word and stretch out the performance for 639 years, using Cage's transcription for organ.
The enormous running time was chosen to commemorate the creation of Halberstadt's historic Blockwerk organ in 1361 -- 639 years before the current project started.
That original organ, built by Nikolaus Faber for Halberstadt's cathedral, was the first organ ever to be used for liturgical purposes, ringing in a new era in which the organ has played a central role in church music ever since.
As part of Halberstadt's John Cage Organ Project, a brand-new organ is being built specially, with new pipes added in time for when new notes are scheduled to sound.
Cage was a pupil of one of the 20th century's most influential composers, Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951).
Cage's avant-garde oeuvre includes works such as the notorious "4'33", a piece comprising four minutes and 33 seconds of total silence, all meticulously notated.
The organisers of the John Cage Organ Project say the record-breaking performance in Halberstadt also has a philosophical background -- to "rediscover calm and slowness in today's fast-changing world".
:') I do wonder if anyone else in this thread actually has a John Cage recording? I actually noticed it this PM while looking for something to take to work, hadn't thought about that CD for a long time, and hadn't yet seen this thread. :') Serendipity.
No conductor. Sequencer.
I don't know who it is, but there's a dead one on the landing.
A recording of silence would be soothing. ;-)
Well, at my son's most recent piano recital, a five year old boy entertained us with a rendition of "Jingle Bells" that seemed like it was that long.
Environments, the Helen Keller version.
I didn't, but figured Google would. Google found a whopping 3 items returning "VeVickers". None seemed relevant.
Silence may be golden, but it's also litigious...
I just got my Oscar Brand's CDs today ......
You must be pretty old...... Ahhhh what a blast from the past. Oscar Brand the ruiner of American culture.
My Oscar Brand collection consists of a single vinyl LP with no cover and no stylus to play it.
My motto is "I may grow old but I refuse to grow up".
I am surprised that several people on FR had heard of Oscar Brand.
I still haven't found Brother Dave Gardner on CD.
I have several scratched up LP records of him.
I'm excited about this, I can't wait till it comes out on CD.......
I can see the advantage of that. If you want to run out for a whiz or get drunk, by the time you return you won't have missed a single note......how clever.
I'll give it a 2....kinda tough to dance to.
.....My motto is "I may grow old but I refuse to grow up"....
That's what I like about Free Republic..... kindred spirits.
Most no-talent composers are forgotten immediately. Or as one bumper sticker writer put it: "Old musicians never die, they just decompose."
The story of VeVickers is told in the initiation rite that a college band fraternity uses (from back when there were college bands).
VeVickers was a world-renowned organist who retired from the public eye in order to compose the greatest organ piece ever written. After years of isolation, contemplation and composition, he finally was ready to perform his masterpiece.
The big day arrived, the concert began, rhythmic, pulsing harmonic strains of organ music filled the cathedral, and at the end, VeVickers was rewarded with polite applause.
The problem was that his composition addressed only his own needs and did not acknowledge his audience.
The lesson of VeVickers is that no matter how masterful a musician may be, he must remember that his calling is to entertain, not to instruct.
Appropriate. See #179.
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