German church hosting John Cage's 639-year-long organ piece installs new chord

St. Burchardi church in Halberstadt, Germany witnessed a chord change in an organ piece that was installed in 2001 and is the longest music piece in the world which is supposed to last until 2640 for 639 years. The chord change was watched by fans from outside the medieval church as they attended to see a major development in the organ which plays a piece composed by American musician John Cage.

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Two new pipes were added to the organ that is playing a piece by John Cage - ORGAN2/ASLSP (As Slow As Possible). New pipes mean that the organ will produce new sounds and therefore the chord change was a big event. The last chord was changed was almost seven years ago.

As per the John Cage Organ Project, the next chord change is due to February 5, 2022, which would mean another new sound for the organ and fans. 

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The organ, when installed on September 5, 2001, on the 89th birth anniversary of John Cage, played without any sound for three years until the first chord was installed in 2003. Soprano singer Johanna Vargas and organist Julian Lembke changed the new chords on Saturday. The continuous sound is generated by a compressor in the basement of the church that creates energy to blow air into the organ. 

Why Halberstadt and why 639 years?

Halberstadt's cathedral was chosen for the project because Michael Praetorius, a composer and important theorist of the music of the late 16th and early 17th centuries, wrote that an organ with the first modern keyboard arrangement was built in the church in 1361, exactly 639 years before the John Cage Organ Project could be installed in 2001. 

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