Kirche halberstadt john cage biography

HALBERSTADT, Germany — Before American avant-garde composer John Cage died in , one of the only instructions he left for those performing his piece Organ2/ASLSP (As Slow as Possible) was, as its title suggests, to play the piece as slowly as possible.

John cage jazz

One might say "mission accomplished" for the folks with the John Cage Organ Foundation in Halberstadt, a small city in central Germany known as the gateway to the Harz mountains. But the group itself may disagree, and it wouldn't be the first time.

When the collection of music scholars, art professors and theologians came together in the late s to plan the slowest performance possible of the piece, they differed among themselves on what Cage meant with his timing instructions.

"And they said, 'Oh, the organist must sometimes go to the loo or sometimes to eat,'" recalls foundation member Rainer Neugebauer. "And then one person — he was a theologian — sai