The Académie Charles Cros (Charles Cros Academy) is an organization located in
Chézy-sur-Marne, France, that acts as an intermediary between government
cultural policy
Cultural policy is the government actions, laws and programs that regulate, protect, encourage and financially (or otherwise) support activities related to the arts and creative sectors, such as painting, sculpture, music, dance, literature, and ...
makers and professionals in music and the recording industry.
The academy is composed of fifty members specializing in
music criticism
'' The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of m ...
, sound recording, and culture. It was founded in 1947 by Roger Vincent with
Armand Panigel,
José Bruyr,
Antoine Goléa,
Franck Ténot, and Pierre Brive – critics and recording specialists - and led by musicologist
Marc Pincherle. It was named in honor of
Charles Cros (1842–1888), inventor and poet (friend of
Arthur Rimbaud and
Paul Verlaine
Paul-Marie Verlaine ( ; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolism (movement), Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the ''fin de siècle'' ...
) who was one of the pioneers of sound recording.
The academy continues to stay abreast of advances in technology, from the development of 78 RPM
gramophone record
A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The g ...
s to
CDs,
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
s, playable
torrents and all other readable, transportable music formats available today.
Awards
Each year since 1948, the Academy has given out its grand prize, the ''
Grand Prix du Disque'', to recognize outstanding achievements in recorded music and musical scholarship. Prizes are awarded in the field of popular song, classical music, jazz, and other categories of recorded music, as well as for outstanding books of
musicology
Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, ...
. Categories vary from year to year, and multiple awards are often made in one category in the same year.
Categories
*
Ancient Music
*
Baroque Music
Baroque music ( or ) refers to the period or dominant style of Classical music, Western classical music composed from about 1600 to 1750. The Baroque style followed the Renaissance music, Renaissance period, and was followed in turn by the Class ...
*
Blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
*
Chamber Music
Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...
*
Choral Music
A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...
*First
Recital
*
French Song
*
Instrumental and Symphonic Music
*Instrumental Soloist (new talent)
*
Jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
*Lyric Music
*Modern Music
*Opera
*Recordings for Children
*Vocal Soloist (new talent)
*
World Music
"World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...
In popular culture
In 1969,
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...
was the recipient of the Popular Music Prize in the 1969 Academie Charles Cros Awards.
References
External links
*
Music organizations based in France
French music awards
Grand Prix du Disque
Music of France
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