The organ used for the Halberstadt performance.
https://99percentinvisible.org/category/sounds/
In February, everyone who went to a concert in the old medieval town of Halberstadt, Germany, showed up 23 years late.
St. Burchardi church in Halberstadt, Germany.
This is also concert from which everyone walks out early. The performance is of a piece called ORGAN2/ASLSP. ASLSP stands for “as slow as possible,” which is how the composer meant for it to be played, and this particular day would involve a chord change. The last time ORGAN2/ASLSP had a chord change was in 2022, and this new chord will play until the next change, in August, 2026. There is a change the year after that, and the following year, and so on, until the year 2640. The full performance is meant to last 639 years.
It takes place in the church of a nun’s cloister founded in the 13th century. It’s an old building, with bare stone walls, a floor that’s mostly gravel, and a wood roof. The organ inside does not look like a typical organ. Placed in the middle of the room, there’s a wooden structure with two towers and some metal pipes coming out of it. The pipes make one continuous sound — a chord — that fills the room at all times, at least until until the chord change, when the organ will play a different single sound.
Over the last 23 years, this tiny pipe organ playing this loud drone has drawn in thousands of fans, especially during chord changes. There are people who come for every change, often traveling from thousands of miles away. Others stay in the church all day, just listening. Others are brought to tears. And group of filmmakers is making a documentaryabout the project which itself is meant to be filmed over 639 years. […]
msamba 