Before looking for monuments, give the square ten seconds with your eyes lowered. Zelný trh was one of Janáček's listening posts. The official Janáček trail documents how he came here to study market sellers from Brno and the surrounding area, writing short pieces of speech together with musical notation. He called these records speech melodies and treated them as clues to a person's inner state. One surviving market note from 1925 even records a seller snapping back about the bad weather. The exercise here is deliberately small: pick one nearby voice and notice pitch, acceleration and pause before you notice the words.
What is documented — and what is not
Documented fact
Leoš Janáček repeatedly noted fragments of speech at Zelný trh and nearby markets as musical notation, including the characteristic speech of market women from Líšeň.
Evidence: Leoš Janáček portal / TIC BRNO · Leoš Janáček portal / TIC BRNO
Documented fact
From 1897 until the end of his life Janáček collected thousands of speech-melody notations in streets, markets, trains, parks and social situations.
Evidence: Leoš Janáček portal / TIC BRNO
Sources
- Zelný trh (Vegetable Market)
Leoš Janáček portal / TIC BRNO · secondary
- How Janáček created — Speech melodies
Leoš Janáček portal / TIC BRNO · secondary