What do you think of this fact?
Most songs last around three minutes. This one has been going since 2001 and still has more than six centuries to go.
As slow as possible
The American composer John Cage wrote a piece called ORGAN²/ASLSP. ASLSP stands for “As SLow aS Possible,” and Cage never said exactly how slow that should be. A project in Halberstadt, Germany, took him at his word: in St. Burchardi Church, an organ is playing the piece over 639 years, until 2640.
Why 639? According to the Associated Press, the number honors a Halberstadt organ from 1361, which was built 639 years before the project started in 2000. The performance itself began on September 5, 2001, Cage’s 89th birthday. And it began with silence: the first notes only sounded on February 5, 2003.
When the sound changes, people show up
A single chord can hang in the air for months or years. An electric blower keeps the organ supplied with wind, and pipes are added or removed by hand. That makes every chord change an event. Classic FM reported on a change on September 5, 2020, the first since October 2013. According to the AP, more than 150 people sat in the church for the 17th change in 2026, while dozens more watched a livestream outside. It marked about 4 percent of the total duration.
The organ builder is optimistic about the hardware. Johannes Hüfken told the AP the pipes should last at least 500 more years.
Bonus fact: You can already buy a ticket for the finale. The inheritable “final tickets” for 2640 cost 2,640 euros.
Whoever hears the final chord hasn’t been born yet. Neither have their great-grandparents.