Money and culturePlanned length (years)
Longest musical performance on an instrument (in progress)
Record
639 years
- Record holder
- Organ²/ASLSP by John Cage, Halberstadt (2001 to 2640)
✓ Value cross-checked in a second source
What to remember
In St. Burchardi church in Halberstadt, Germany, an organ has been playing John Cage's Organ²/ASLSP since 2001. The John Cage Organ Foundation Halberstadt decided the performance would last 639 years, ending in 2640.
ASLSP stands for "As Slow as Possible". Cage wrote the organ piece in 1987, adapting ASLSP, his 1985 composition for piano. He did not say exactly how slowly it should be played. On piano, a performance usually lasts 20 to 70 minutes.
In Halberstadt, every change of note is a small event: a note was added on August 5, 2026, and the next one is due on October 5, 2027.
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Sources and licences
- Value, holder and date: Wikipedia article “As Slow as Possible” (revision used 1379275596). Data from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Photo: Unknown author, Photo licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons).
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