Eurovision Song Contest 1956

1st Eurovision Song Contest
date	May 24, 1956
Host country	Switzerland
venue	Teatro Kursaal , Lugano
Broadcasting television station
Moderation	Lohengrin Filipello
Pause filler	Les Joyeux Rossignols and Les Trois Ménestrels
participating countries	7th
winner	Switzerland
First time participation	Belgium , FR Germany , France , Italy , Luxembourg , Netherlands , Switzerland
Voting rule	Competition jury with 2 members from each country. Ratings remained secret.
ESC 1957 ►

The 1st Eurovision Song Contest took place after the decision to hold this competition for the first time on October 19, 1955, on May 24, 1956 in Lugano , Switzerland , at that time under the title Gran Premio Eurovisione della Canzone Europea . The Swiss TV presenter Lohengrin Filipello hosted the evening ; he was the only male solo presenter of the competition to date.

venue

Lugano

Venue of the Eurovision Song Contest 1956

The 1956 Eurovision Song Contest took place in the Teatro Kursaal in Lugano, Switzerland. Lugano is located in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino . The casino Casinò Lugano is located on the former site of the building, which was demolished in 2001 .

Attendees

participating countries

The following seven countries took part in the first Eurovision Song Contest: Belgium , Germany , France , Italy , Luxembourg , the Netherlands and Switzerland . The United Kingdom, Denmark and Austria missed the registration deadline for the European Broadcasting Union and were therefore unable to participate.

Voting procedure

Each country sent two judges. They rated every song - including those from their own country - in camera. Nothing is known about the mode of awarding the points.

Placements

The following table is sorted by startup order:

place	Start number	country	Interpreter	Song Music (M) and Text (T)	language	Translation (unofficial)
1.	09	Switzerland	Lys Assia	Refrain M: Géo Voumard ; T: Émile Gardaz	French	-
-	01	Netherlands	Jetty Paerl	De vogels van Holland M: Cor Lemaire; T: Annie MG Schmidt	Dutch	The birds of Holland
	02	Switzerland	Lys Assia	The old M / T carousel : Georg Benz Stahl	German	-
	03	Belgium	Fud Leclerc	Messieurs les noyés de la Seine M: Jean Miret, Jacques Say; T: Robert Montal	French	You drowned lords of the Seine
	04th	BR Germany	Walter Andreas Schwarz	In the waiting room for great happiness M / T: Walter Andreas Schwarz	German	-
	05	France	Mathé Altéry	Le temps perdu M: André Lodge; T: Rachèle Thoreau	French	The lost time
	06th	Luxembourg	Michèle Arnaud	Ne crois pas M / T: Christian Guitreau	French	Don't believe
	07th	Italy	Franca Raimondi	Aprite le finestre M: Virgilio Panzuti; T: Pinchi	Italian	Open the window
	08th	Netherlands	Corry Brokken	Voorgoed voorbij M / T: Jelle de Vries	Dutch	Forever away
	10	Belgium	Mony Marc	Le plus beau jour de ma vie M: Claude Alix; T: David Bee	French	The best day of my life
	11	BR Germany	Freddy Quinn	This is how it goes every night M: Lotar Olias ; T: Peter Moesser	German	-
	12th	France	Dany Dauberson	Il est là M / T: Simone Vallauris	French	He is there
	13th	Luxembourg	Michèle Arnaud	Les amants de minuit M: Simone Laurencin; T: Jacques Lassry	French	The midnight lovers
	14th	Italy	Tonina Torrielli	Amami se vuoi M: Vittorio Mascheroni; T: Mario Panzeri	Italian	Love me if you want

miscellaneous

• Each country was allowed to perform twice.
• To date there is only one recording of the winning performance and one radio recording. TV pictures no longer exist.
•  Luxembourg : Luxembourg waived its own jury and asked the Swiss jury to vote on behalf of Luxembourg. Speculatively, this could have led to Switzerland's victory. The EBU destroyed all ratings. Only the winner of the ESC was announced.
•  Switzerland : Switzerland won the ESC when it participated for the first time. It also took place in Switzerland.

transmission

country	Moderation / comment	Channel
participating countries
Belgium	Nand Baert ( Dutch )	NIR
	Janine Lambotte ( French )	INR
Germany	Wolf Mittler	The first
France	Michèle Rebel	RTF
Italy	Franco Marazzi	Programma Nazionale
Luxembourg	Michèle Rebel	Télé Luxembourg
Netherlands	Piet te Nuyl	NTS
Switzerland	Georges Hardy	TSR
Countries not participating
Denmark	Gunnar Hansen	Statsradiofonie TV
Austria	Wolf Mittler	ORF
United Kingdom	Wilfrid Thomas	BBC Television Service

Apart from a film of the first-placed song with Lys Assia, there are hardly any moving images of the event.

See also

• List of winners and events of the Eurovision Song Contest

Web links

• Eurovision.tv
• Eurovision.de
• diggiloo.net

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.eurovision.tv/page/news?id=a_diamond_day_for_the_eurovision_song_contest
2. ↑ ^{a b} 1956: Gran Premio Eurovisione Della Canzone Europea in Lugano. In: Eurovision website. NDR, accessed on May 15, 2015 . 
3. ^ 1. Eurovision Song Contest 1956 on ECGermany.de
4. ↑ https://lostmediawiki.com/The_Eurovision_Song_Contest_1956_(lost_footage_from_event;_1956)
5. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyqIPvOkiRk
6. ↑ https://lostmediawiki.com/The_Eurovision_Song_Contest_1956_(lost_footage_from_event;_1956)