A 639-year-long John Cage organ piece just changed chord, for the first time in two-and-a-half years

5 August 2026, 10:46 | Updated: 5 August 2026, 10:50

By Classic FM

@ClassicFM

In a moment of music history, a single chord has been changed in an iconic piece of 20th-century music which ends in the year 2640.

Wednesday 5 August 2026 is a day etched into the diaries of many 20th-century music enthusiasts. An epic, centuries-long performance of one of the most iconic pieces of experimental music has a note change, two-and-a-half years in the making.

Organ2/ASLSP, ‘As Slow as Possible’ is a keyboard work written by American avant-garde composer John Cage in the mid-1980s. The score consists of eight pages of music, to be played on the piano or organ, as the name suggests, very slowly.

When performing the piece, musicians observe the composer’s instruction. The eight pages of music are taken very slowly, and it often takes over an hour to complete the work. In 2009, organist Diane Luchese gave a rendition that lasted for 14 hours and 56 minutes. A couple years ago in 2022, Dr. Christopher Anderson from Southern Methodist University gave a 16-hour performance of the monumental work.

But all is eclipsed by a performance on a custom-built organ at St. Burchardi Church in Halberstadt, Germany. The Halberstadt performance began in 2001 on Cage’s 89th birthday, with a scheduled duration of 639 years, ending in the year 2640.

Read more: 10 incredible 20th-century classical works that would change music forever

On Saturday 5 September 2020, a media storm was created in Halberstadt, when a chord which had been held for 2,527 days was changed. February 2022 saw another chord change.

On Monday, 5 February 2024, organ pipes were changed once again. The chord that had been sustained for two years (C, D-flat, D-sharp, E, A-sharp and E) became (C, D-flat, D, D-sharp, E, A-sharp and E), with a D note added.

Now, more than 900 days later on 5 August 2024, the chord has changed again. An A note has been added, to make a crunchy chromatic cluster chord (C, D-flat, D, D-sharp, E, A, A-sharp and E).

Visitors, Cage enthusiasts, and world media gathered at the church for the occasion in 2024, when just after 3pm local time, Rainer O. Neugebauer, who is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the John Cage Organ Foundation Halberstadt, inserted the necessary pipe, to create the sound that would ring out for the next 18 months.

What the moment in the video below.

The next change is scheduled for 5 October 2027, when the lower of the two E notes will be released.

Read more: John Cage chord change: what’s the story behind ‘As Slow As Possible’?

Who was John Cage?

One of the most iconic composers of the 20th century, John Cage was born in 1912. As a composer and performer, he was at the forefront of experimental and avant-garde music.

Cage composed with electronics, tape loops and, most famously in his work 4’33”, complete silence. His works changed the way art and music was perceived. His compositions spanned a huge variety of media, theoretical ideas with new, quirky ways of playing conventional instruments.

“I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas,” he once said, adding, “I’m frightened of the old ones.”