The Eurovision Song Contest 1956 was the first edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Radio svizzera italiana (RSI) on behalf of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR). The contest, originally titled the Gran Premio Eurovisione 1956 della Canzone Europea (English: Grand Prix of the Eurovision Song Competition; French: Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson Européenne 1956), was held on Thursday 24 May 1956 at the Teatro Kursaal in Lugano, Switzerland, and hosted by Swiss television presenter Lohengrin Filipello, which remains the only time that the contest has been hosted by a solo male presenter.
Inspired principally by the Italian Sanremo Music Festival, held annually since 1951, the concept of a televised European song contest, initially proposed by Italian broadcaster RAI, was formulated by an EBU committee led by Swiss broadcaster and executive Marcel Bezençon. Following approval at the EBU's General Assembly in 1955, the rules and structure of the contest were agreed upon. Several of the rules utilised in this first contest would subsequently be altered for future editions, and it remains the only edition in which each country was represented by two songs, with a voting process which was held in secret and where juries could vote for the entries from their own country.
Seven countries participated in the inaugural edition of the contest, and the first winner was the host country Switzerland, with the song "Refrain" performed by Lys Assia. The result was determined by an assembled jury composed of two jurors from each country, with each juror ranking each song between 1 and 10 points. Only the winning country and song were announced at the conclusion of the event, with the results of the remaining participants unknown. Even though it was broadcast on television and radio via the Eurovision network in ten countries, no video footage of the event is known to exist, with the only video available being of the reprise performance from an independent archiver; the majority of the broadcast is, however, available in audio.
The winning song was "Refrain", composed by Géo Voumard, written by Émile Gardaz, performed by Lys Assia and representing the host country Switzerland. During the reprise performance of the winning song, Assia became emotional and suffered a lapse in memory of the song's lyrics, subsequently requesting a restart by the orchestra. After the show, a reception for the participating delegations was held in the upper hall of Teatro Kursaal on behalf of both the host city Lugano and canton Ticino.
Results[]
The full results of the contest were not revealed at the time, with only the winning song named at the end of the show by the jury president Rolf Liebermann; the full breakdown of each juror's votes has not been retained by the EBU, and is presumed lost. Attempts to reconstruct the voting through interviews with jury members have also failed to reveal a reliable result. An article in Italian newspaper La Stampa published on 25 May 1956, the day after the contest, reported that Switzerland's winning entry received 102 points in total.
Country in gold is the winning entry and country in silver is the host country.
| Rank | Country | EBU member station | Artist | Song | Conductor | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Switzerland | SRG SSR | Lys Assia | "Refrain" | Fernando Paggi | 102 |
| - | Netherlands | NTS | Jetty Paerl | "De vogels van Holland" | Fernando Paggi | - |
| - | Switzerland | SRG SSR | Lys Assia | "Das alte Karussell" | Fernando Paggi | - |
| - | Belgium | INR | Fud Leclerc | "Messieurs les noyés de la Seine" | Léo Souris | - |
| - | Germany | ARD/NWRV | Walter Andreas Schwarz | "Im Wartesaal zum großen Glück" | Fernando Paggi | - |
| - | France | RTF | Mathé Altéry | "Le Temps perdu" | Franck Pourcel | - |
| - | Luxembourg | CLT | Michèle Arnaud | "Ne crois pas" | Jacques Lasry | - |
| - | Italy | RAI | Franca Raimondi | "Aprite le finestre" | Gian Stellari | - |
| - | Netherlands | NTS | Corry Brokken | "Voorgoed voorbij" | Fernando Paggi | - |
| - | Belgium | INR | Mony Marc | "Le Plus Beau Jour de ma vie" | Léo Souris | - |
| - | Germany | ARD/NWRV | Freddy Quinn | So geht das jede Nacht" | Fernando Paggi | - |
| - | France | RTF | Dany Dauberson | "Il est là" | Franck Pourcel | - |
| - | Luxembourg | CLT | Michèle Arnaud | "Les Amants de minuit" | Jacques Lasry | - |
| - | Italy | RAI | Tonina Torrielli | "Amami se vuoi" | Gian Stellari | - |
Broadcast[]
No video footage of the whole contest is known to exist, with the only known footage being clips of the reprise performance of the winning song via newsreel and other recordings. As such, this is one of only two editions of the contest, along with the 1964 contest, to not have video recordings of the full event retained. Audio of most of the contest has, however, survived, with only the majority of the contest's interval acts currently lost. Attempts to find audiovisual materials related to the contest have yielded some results in recent years.
Participating countries[]
| Country | Broadcaster(s) | Commentator(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Belgium (French) | INR | Unknown |
| Belgium (Dutch) | NIR | Piet de Nuyl Jr. |
| France | RTF | Michelle Rebel |
| Paris-Inter | Unknown | |
| Germany | Deutsches Fernsehen | Unknown |
| Radio Bremen 2 | Unknown | |
| Italy | Programma Nazionale, Secondo Programma | Franco Marazzi |
| Luxembourg | Télé-Luxembourg | Unknown |
| Netherlands | NTS | Piet te Nuyl Jr. |
| Switzerland (German) | SRG | Fritz Schäuffele |
| DRS | Unknown | |
| Switzerland (French) | TSR | Raymond Colbert |
| RSR | Unknown | |
| Switzerland (Italian) | RSI | Unknown |
Non-participating countries[]
| Country | Broadcaster(s) | Commentator(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Austria | ORF | Unknown |
| Denmark | Statsradiofonien TV | Jens Frederik Lawaetz |
| United Kingdom | BBC Television Service | Wilfrid Thomas |