ORGAN²/ASLSP
ORGAN²/ASLSP is a piece of music for organ by John Cage from 1987. The abbreviation ASLSP stands for as slow as possible and is the instruction to play the four-page score as slowly as possible . At the premiere on November 21, 1987 in Metz , the organist Gerd Zacher played the organ piece for a little over 29 minutes. More recent CD recordings have appeared by Hans-Ola Ericsson , Christoph Bossert and Dominik Susteck .
Since 2001 it has been performed in the Sankt Burchardi Church in Halberstadt as the slowest and longest lasting organ piece in the world with a total length of 639 years, according to which the project sees itself as a promise for the future and can therefore also be considered a long -term musical experiment . The last sound change took place on February 5, 2022, the next one is scheduled for February 5, 2024.
emergence
John Cage originally composed the piece entitled ASLSP in 1985 for piano using a computer random program. It was created as a commission and competition piece for The University of Maryland Piano Festival and Competition , later renamed the William Kapell International Piano Competition , and premiered on July 14, 1985 in College Park , Maryland . The game instructions in the original are ambiguous. ASLSP is first defined by Cage as as slow as possible , and he also refers to the quote "Soft morning city! Lsp!” from the last paragraph of the novel Finnegans Wake by James Joyce . The work is divided into eight parts of equal length. In 1987 Cage rewrote it for organ for organist Gerd Zacher : ORGAN²/ASLSP
Performance in Halberstadt
The John Cage Organ Art Project, with its 639-year-old realization of John Cage's ORGAN²/ASLSP, is supported and financed by the John Cage Organ Foundation in Halberstadt, which was established specifically for this purpose and works on a purely voluntary basis. One of the initiators was Johann-Peter Hinz , chairman of the city council of Halberstadt after reunification until 1999, who also suggested the Burchardikirche as a location for the project. The unrenovated and only secured church is said to be an ideal place for the concert. It should remain in this state.
prehistory
At an organ symposium in Trossingen in 1998 , the idea arose to take the statement as slow as possible even more literally than at the premiere. Halberstadt was chosen for the realization because an ideal performance location was found in the then unused Sankt Burchardi church in the former Sankt Burchardi monastery . At the same time, there was a connection to Halberstadt Cathedral , in which one of the oldest documented organs of modern times was completed on September 20 or 21, 1361. According to Harry Partch in his work Genesis of a Music 1949, this “Fatal Day in Halberstadt” was the starting point for setting the duration of the Halberstadt performance at 639 years.
This period resulted from the difference between the installation of the old (not preserved) cathedral organ from 1361 in Halberstadt Cathedral and the initially planned start of the performance in 2000. The arc thus spans from 1361 to 2000 and the year 2639. The actual performance of the work However, due to a lack of money in the purely voluntary John Cage organ art project, it could only begin on September 5, 2001 and should therefore not end until the year 2640. The four-page score was extrapolated for the intended performance of 639 years. With eight parts of equal length and one repetition, one part lasts exactly 71 years. The sound changes of the first part up to the year 2072 were calculated by Christoph Bossert and Rainer O. Neugebauer .
The Cage Organ
In the planning phase, the Marburg organ builder Gerald Woehl was involved in the project. The organ in the Sankt Burchardi Church was built specifically for the performance of the piece by the Kevelaer organ builder Romanus Seifert & Sohn with the support of the Reinhard Hüfken organ builder from Halberstadt. It stands in the south transept of the church, while the bellows system is in the north transept. There is also an old choir stall , although it does not originally come from the Burchardi Church. To prevent the piece from being interrupted in the event of a blower failure, there is a switchable spare blower. Several organ pipes can be installed in the organ . With the so-called sound changes, these are exchanged according to the course of the score.
performance
The realization of the piece began on September 5, 2001. Since the performance began with a "break" of almost a year and a half, the first sound of the organ was the blower sound. On February 5, 2003, the second organ sound could be heard with the first pipe sound.
The sound changes are generally well received by the public, so that many visitors come at these times. The 13th Klangwechsel took place on October 5, 2013, and on September 5, 2020, i.e. almost seven years later, the 14th Klangwechsel took place with great media attention.
Dates of the sound change of the first part
| pulse | action | tones | date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Impulse 1: | P: | September 5, 2001 | ||
| Impulse 2: | K: | G#′, B′, G#″ | February 5, 2003 | 518d |
| Impulse 3: | K: | e, e′ | July 5, 2004 | 516d |
| Impulse 4: | P: | g sharp′, h′ | July 5, 2005 | 365d |
| Impulse 5: | K: | a′, c″, f sharp″ | January 5, 2006 | 184d |
| Impulse 6: | P: | e, e′ | May 5, 2006 | 120d |
| Impulse 7: | K: | c′, as′ | July 5, 2008 | 792d |
| Impulse 8: | P: | c′ | November 5, 2008 | 123d |
| Impulse 9: | K: | d′, e″ | February 5, 2009 | 92d |
| Impulse 10: | P: | e″ | July 5, 2010 | 515d |
| Impulse 11: | P: | d′, G#″ | February 5, 2011 | 215d |
| Impulse 12: | K/P: | c′(16′), des′(16′), a′ | August 5, 2011 | 181d |
| Impulse 13: | P: | a′, c″, f sharp″ | July 5, 2012 | 335d |
| Impulse 14: | K: | D sharp′, a sharp′, e″ | October 5, 2013 | 457d |
| Impulse 15: | K: | g#, e′ | September 5, 2020 | 2527d |
| Impulse 16: | P: | gis | February 5, 2022 | 518d |
| Impulse 17: | K: | d′ | February 5, 2024 | 730d |
| Impulse 18: | K: | a′ | August 5, 2026 | 912d |
| Impulse 19: | P: | e′ | October 5, 2027 | 426d |
| Impulse 20: | K: | G | April 5, 2028 | 183d |
| Impulse 21: | P: | d′ | August 5, 2028 | 122d |
| Impulse 22: | P: | a′ | March 5, 2030 | 577d |
| Impulse 23: | P: | dis′, e″ | September 5, 2030 | 184d |
| Impulse 24: | P: | G | May 5, 2033 | 973d |
| Impulse 25: | K: | H | December 5, 2033 | 214d |
| Impulse 26: | K: | f, d′ | Aug 5, 2034 | 243d |
| Impulse 27: | P: | f, d′ | September 5, 2034 | 31d |
| Impulse 28: | P: | H | October 5, 2034 | 30 days |
| Impulse 29: | K: | of" | June 5, 2035 | 243d |
| Impulse 30: | K/P: | A (16′)des″ | September 5, 2037 | 823d |
| Impulse 31: | K: | as′, as″ | March 5, 2038 | 181d |
| Impulse 32: | P: | as″ | July 5, 2038 | 122d |
| Impulse 33: | P: | as′ | May 5, 2039 | 304d |
| Impulse 34: | K: | that' | December 5, 2039 | 214d |
| Impulse 35: | P: | that' | April 5, 2040 | 122d |
| Impulse 36: | K: | des, b | January 5, 2041 | 275d |
| Impulse 37: | P: | des, b | March 5, 2042 | 424d |
| Impulse 38: | P: | A (16′) | November 5, 2043 | 610d |
| Impulse 39: | K: | a, d′ | July 5, 2044 | 243d |
| Impulse 40: | K/P: | e′ais′ | March 5, 2045 | 243d |
| Impulse 41: | K: | b′, c″, a sharp″ | March 5, 2046 | 365d |
| Impulse 42: | P: | c′(16′), b′, c″, a sharp″ | October 5, 2047 | 579d |
| Impulse 43: | K: | c (16′) | February 5, 2049 | 489d |
| Impulse 44: | K: | dis′, a′ | April 5, 2050 | 424d |
| Impulse 45: | P: | a, d′, e′ | February 5, 2051 | 306d |
| Impulse 46: | P: | dis′, a′ | November 5, 2051 | 273d |
| Impulse 47: | K: | it, h | May 5, 2053 | 547d |
| Impulse 48: | P: | c (16′) | November 5, 2054 | 549d |
| Impulse 49: | P: | it, h | July 5, 2056 | 608d |
| Impulse 50: | K: | b′ | Aug 5, 2057 | 396d |
| Impulse 51: | K: | A (16′) | May 5, 2058 | 273d |
| Impulse 52: | P: | A (16′) | November 5, 2059 | 549d |
| Impulse 53: | K: | g′, c″, des″ | April 5, 2060 | 152d |
| Impulse 54: | P: | g′, c″, des″ | June 5, 2060 | 61d |
| Impulse 55: | K/P: | e′b′ | November 5, 2060 | 153d |
| Impulse 56: | K: | h′, c″, es″, c′″ | February 5, 2061 | 92d |
| Impulse 57: | P: | c″, it″, c′″ | April 5, 2061 | 59d |
| Impulse 58: | K/P: | d'e' | September 5, 2061 | 153d |
| Impulse 59: | K: | a sharp, dis′, f sharp′ | Aug 5, 2062 | 334d |
| Impulse 60: | P: | a sharp, f sharp′ | February 5, 2064 | 549d |
| Impulse 61: | K/P: | a, a′d#′ | January 5, 2067 | 1065d |
| Impulse 62: | P: | d′ | June 5, 2067 | 151d |
| Impulse 63: | P: | a, a' | July 5, 2068 | 396d |
| Impulse 64: | P: | des′(16′) | March 5, 2071 | 973d |
| Impulse 65: | P: | H' | July 5, 2071 | 122d |
- K = beginning of sound
- P = end of sound (pause)
donation boards
Since the John Cage Organ Foundation does not receive any institutional funding, it is dependent on donations. In the church, so-called sound panels can be attached to a steel band for each year of performance. Each donor and each group of donors who donate at least EUR 1200 can have a plaque assigned to them and specify a text. On the project's website you can see which years are still available.
web links
- ORGAN²/ASLSP John Cage Organ Art Project , the official website of the John Cage Organ Foundation in Halberstadt
- permanent organs. Does it please God? , A conversation with the Berlin composer and theologian Dieter Schnebel about the longest piece of music in the world, which enters a new phase on May 5th in Halberstadt. John Cage's work is said to end in 2640. By Ulrich Stock, Zeit Online , May 3, 2006
- (JC{639}) Artistic documentary by Sabine Groschup, 2006/20012
- A Visit to John Cage's 639-Year Organ Composition by Aaron Gonsher, Red Bull Music Academy, April 12, 2019
- The 639 Year Concert arte TV Gymnastics on October 23, 2019
- Cage Conversation with Richard T. Eldridge , January 2021
- The John Cage Organ Project & the Climate Change , Interview with Warren Sanders for Music 4 Climate Justice (M4CJ) at the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow 2021 on 12 November 2021
itemizations
- ↑ Official website of the John Cage Organ Foundation in Halberstadt , accessed February 19, 2021.
- ↑ The New York Times , An Organ Recital for Very, Very Patient by Daniel J. Wakin on May 5, 2006, accessed February 18, 2021.
- ↑ Die Zeit , The Frozen Time by U. Stock on January 8, 2006, retrieved October 27, 2013.
- ↑ Die Zeit , The Hum of God by U. Stock on August 5, 2011 for the upcoming ten year anniversary, retrieved September 17, 2011.
- ↑ Harper's Magazine , There are Other Forces at Work. John Cage comes to Halberstadt by John Darnielle in January 2016, accessed February 18, 2021.
- ↑ Brunswick Review, Millenium Jukebox by Carlton Wilkinson in December 2017, accessed 18 February 2021.
- ↑ Who is more important in our times, Cage or Beethoven? Talking about the Cage project, retrieved February 19, 2021.
- ↑ a b ASLSP. In: johncage.org.
- ↑ "A seeker who keeps trying new metallic materials." Jörg-Heiko Bruns in Volksstimme.de of August 31, 2012, retrieved on July 9, 2021.
- ↑ As slowly as possible, and that for centuries , Raoul Mörchen, in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , September 13, 2000, quoted in John Cage in Halberstadt – Die Zeitproblematik in »As Slow As Possible« , David Zintl April 5, 2005
- ↑ Project description on the official website of the John Cage Organ Foundation in Halberstadt, retrieved on June 3, 2017
- ↑ Die Klangwechsel on the official website of the John Cage Organ Foundation in Halberstadt, retrieved on February 5, 2017
- ↑ 14. Klangwechsel SWR Knowledge Odysso from October 30, 2020, retrieved on February 18, 2021.
- ↑ Media response to the 14th sound change on the official website of the John Cage Organ Foundation in Halberstadt, retrieved on February 18, 2021.
- ↑ Excerpt from the score 'Klangwechsel' on the official website of the John Cage Organ Foundation in Halberstadt, retrieved on October 27, 2013.
- ↑ Change of sound at Cage's performance in Halberstadt: The slowest organ concert in the world. Der Spiegel , October 5, 2013, retrieved October 5, 2013 .