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".
Oh yes. I see it'd played on a Blockwerk organ.
That was a good movie.
I'd be delighted if any other Freeper knows who VeVickers is.
Derivative.
I'm sorry, but hearing an F# diminished triad in first inversion being held down on an organ "for a few years" would do absolutely nothing to restore calm and slowness to my mind. In fact it would drive me absolutely bonkers. Within minutes.
Ping
I think he wrote that deathly silence you hear when you go into a cave.
I got Garage Band in my iLife bundle.
I've never played it and probably never will. Ergo, as far as I'm concerned, my composition on Garage Band will consist of total silence.
Does this make me a brilliant composer? Do I get royalties any time silence occurs?
Do symphony orchestras actually perform 4:33?
Whoever said those Gemrans werent good for anything?
Stupid.
What about the composition where performers turn radios on and off and drop them on the floor?
I suspect the CD sales aren't going too well.
I've never heard a performance (but maybe that was the point). In any case when the musicians go home, the instruments perform by themselves all night.
That would be funny.
I just wonder what you would SEE on stage at a performance of Cage's 4'33".
Would it be an empty stage, or would you see an entire orchestra up there following the conductor in a performance of absolutely nothing?
ROFLMAO!!! This is the second time today I've had occasion to marvel at FReeper skill with zingers.
The rapid tacit bass adds a subtle tension that has to be heard to be believed.
I've always heard it was intended for a pianist (or a non pianist depending on one's fancy).
Oh man. I haven't left work yet and am trying hard to hold my laughter in. This is just too funny.
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