17

The Slavonic Teachers'

Training Institute

POŘÍČÍ 5

The Teachers' Training Institute was situated in the building which today houses the Faculty of Architecture of the Brno  University of Technology. Janáček began studying at the institute in 1869 when it was still situated within the Minorite Monastery (Minoritská 1). From 1876 he then taught and headed the school's musical production for some thirty years. In 1878 the Teachers' Institute moved to Poříčí 5 in Old Brno, where it remained until the Second World War. To mark this occasion Janáček composed and conducted the Festive chorus for laying the foundation stone of the Teachers' Institute in Brno. It was here that he also met his future wife, Zdenka, the daughter of the director of the Teachers'Institute, Emilian Schulz. The director and his family lived in the rear section of the school and the young Janáček went there to teach Zdenka piano. Their mutual affection led to them being married in 1881 and a year later Olga was born.

Today the area is the home of the Faculty of Architecture of the Brno University of Technology and comprises two buildings - one dating back to 1876 and an extension from 1963. The building contains a memorial plaque with a bronze bust of Leoš Janáček by Zdeněk Tomáš Makovský.

I knew him as a teacher of singing and music at the Teachers' Institute in Brno. Back then he hadn't been "drunk with glory", but he was evidently an exceptional phenomenon within the teaching staff. All of his pupils felt that way. [...] Even if our teacher was then remarkably untalkative, meticulous and strict in every regard, we still welcomed him with unusual respect whenever he came into the music auditorium.

From an article by the composer Josef Černík "Memories of Leoš Janáček" (Lidové noviny, 12. 8. 1933)