But first, a confession: The few times I've been to formal music performances (and by "formal," I mean just that: Performances where you have to dress formally; things that involve orchestras or even musicals), I convince myself that I'll sit and enjoy it.
I soon find myself sneaking looks at my watch, determining how much longer until it's over. Telling myself, "OK, two more songs until the intermission, which is always past the halfway point."
I'm not proud of that. I should have enjoyed "Phantom of the Opera" more. I should like it when great musicians play songs that inspire others. And by "others," I mean the people who don't sneak glances at their watch to calculate how long until it's over.
If you're not like me – if you wish the symphony would play longer or that the opera would continue or that Lynard Skynard would have another guitar solo –you should go to Halberstadt, Germany, and listen to a performance of the aforementioned Organ2/ASLSP, written by American composer John Cage.
As you likely don't know, ASLSP stands for "as slowly and softly as possible" (Don't ask me about the extra L. Seems to me it should be either ASASAP or ASSP.).
Want to know what Organ2/ASLSP is like? Think of a slow song. Then think of something much slower. Then multiply that by 10. Then think of something that would be much, much longer than that and you have the performance in Halberstadt of Organ2/ASLSP.
The song began Sept. 5, 2001 (six days before a day that would entirely overshadow the launching of Organ2/ASLSP). The song will end in 2640.
Yeah, the performance of a single song is scheduled to last 639 years. Even Keith Richards wouldn't be able to do that.
There's a fascinating story behind it.
Cage, who wrote the song in 1985 and died in 1992, never said how long his song should last, but a group of experts realized that an organ can (theoretically) play a note forever. Since Cage designed the song to be played "as slowly and softly as possible," those experts elected to make it last those 639 years (settling on the amount of time from 1361, when the world's first 12-tone Gothic organ was built in Halberstadt until Jan. 1, 2000. Which is a specific time frame but also is a very Halberstadt, Germany-focused time frame).
Once they made that decision, it was a matter of determining how long each note should last. Since the piece starts with silence, the performance began with 17 months of silence (Hello darkness my old friend, indeed!). Since then, a series of notes have been played. The most recent – the 17th note – began Feb. 4 this year and will be played until Aug. 5, 2026.
There has already been a mistake. Remember that 17-month period of silence? It turns out it should have lasted 28 months, so the next note was the equivalent of starting to sing "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" (12:04) only 2:20 in instead of 3:52 in. Outrageous!
When the song finishes, 616 years from now, few will likely remember it. In fact, few will remember the first part, which consists of 65 sections, the last of which ends in 2071. When that happens, there will still be 569 years of the song left, the equivalent of the 39-second mark in Bohemian Rhapsody (5:55) – which is when Freddie Mercury first sings "any way the wind blows . . . "
Ultimately, the mistakes don't really matter. Because, like the free bird in the song by Lynard Skynard, this song is one you cannot change. Even while you check your watch.
Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@outlook.com.
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