Mäandernde Semantiken. Der Ludus Danielis als intermediales Übersetzungsmodell?
The Ludus Danielis, a spiritual game in the Latin language from the late 12th century, is not only a stroke of luck from the point of view of music history, but also from the point of view of media theory. Completely preserved and thoroughly composed through, it represents the possibility of systematically analysing questions such as the specific relationship between the media involved – text and music or melody. Translations inevitably come into view: from text to melody and vice versa. With the help of the monophonic solo song “Surge frater” from the Ludus Danielis, this essay will examine the translation processes in terms of Pierce’s sign types. At issue will be the exercise to carry out a categorical trace-back of text and melody (space, time, movement). A condition for this seems to be a specific semantic momentum of its own in both media, which, in the case of the formation of coherent statements by the interpreter, reveals itself as interference with increasing performative potentials.