It's a phenomenon unlike anything in the classical music world since Gorecki's luminous Symphony No. 3 or Chant. Morimur was an unexpected smash hit when it was released on CD in September. It has been on Billboard's Classical Top 15 for more than 20 weeks.

        The reaction was surprising for a project immersed in death, with a thick book detailing its presumed hidden meaning.

IF YOU GO

What: Morimur, J.S. Bach's Ciaccona (Chaconne) from Partita No. 2 in D Minor and the hidden chorales; Christoph Poppen, violin; the Hilliard Ensemble     When: 8 p.m. Wednesday     Where: St. Peter in Chains Cathedral, downtown     Tickets: $25; $28 at the door; $15 students with ID. 421-2222.

        The title comes from the middle line of the Latin Trinitarian saying, ""In Christo morimur,” (we die in Christ). In 1994, Helga Thoene published a complex theory that Bach's Chaconne is actually an “epitaph in music” for his suddenly-deceased wife, Maria Barbara. Ms. Thoene unearthed a secret code of numerical references and chorales in the music.

        Violinist Christoph Poppen, who performs Morimur Wednesday at St. Peter in Chains Cathedral, spoke from Munich about how he and the Hilliard Ensemble interweave the chorales with the Chaconne, illuminating what might have gone on inside Bach's head.

        Question: How did you become interested in this project?

        Answer: When Professor Thoene started her work 10 years ago, she happened to tell me about it. I got incredibly interested. When it started, she found these incredible things; it was fragments of what we have today.

        Q: When you decided to try to bring out the hidden vocal chorales in the instrumental music, did you think it would be an easy project?

        A: At first it seemed easy; you recognize a chorale, and you think, “I can sing it.” Then, it turns out, Bach really was hiding the chorales, and writing them against the beat. We took a long time to figure out what is the best arrangement. There was a lot to be decided: What do you include; what do you not include? With four singers, who is going to sing which chorale in which octave?

        Q: What do you say to skeptics about the secret numerology (assigning numbers to letters of the alphabet)?

        A: In Bach's time, the method was not so unknown. Many artists did use it, and it was lost over the centuries. (About a dozen) composers of the time also did this. Even poets and painters — Albrecht Durer — used some of the same principles.

        In the first movement of the Partita, the first bar contains the numbers of Maria Barbara, and the second bar contains Bach's numbers. The beginning of the Chaconne is the numbers of Maria Barbara's complete name. So it is as clear dedication.

        Q: Why do you think it resonates with people so strongly?

        A: Music starts where words end. The Chaconne always has been one of the most fascinating pieces. Then by making audible this tragic story of Bach's life — that he came home, found his wife dead and buried and no one had even told him about it — it is an emotional reaction.

        The music communicates death and resurrection. In this process, leading from dark into light, death into eternal light, there's something which you just feel, and it comes over in such a strong way that it feels like the truth.

        Q: What do you hope people will come away with?

        A: What I am hoping for as an artist is that people come to the concert and forget about daily life and somehow get a piece of eternity.
       

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