Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1959

Eurovision Song Contest 1959
Country	Switzerland
National selection
Selection process	National final
Selection date(s)	22 February 1959
Selected entrant	Christa Williams
Selected song	"Irgendwoher"
Selected songwriter(s)	Lothar Löffler
Finals performance
Final result	4th, 14 points
Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1958 • 1959 • 1960►

Switzerland competed for the fourth time in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1959 and used a national final to select their entry after having used one previously in 1956 and 1957, but choosing to internally select in 1958.

Before Eurovision

Grand Prix Suisse de la Chanson Eurovision 1959

Format

Grand Prix Suisse de la Chanson Eurovision 1959 consisted of two semi-finals, each consisting of eight songs, and a final with nine songs. Each semi-final was voted on by a 40-member jury in Basel, Geneva, Lugano, and Zurich, which were a combination of representatives of the public and representatives from the music industry. In the final, four fifteen-member juries Basel, Lausanne, Lugano, and Zurich voted on the nine songs. The composers of the songs were kept anonymous until after the results of the final were announced.^[1]

Competing Entries

SSR received 262 submissions, from which 16 were chosen to compete in Grand Prix Suisse de la Chanson Eurovision 1959. Eight entries were sung in French, seven in German, and one in Italian.^[1][2]

First Semi-Final

The first semi-final of Grand Prix Suisse de la Chanson Eurovision 1959 was held on 15 December 1958 in Geneva, and hosted by Colette Jean, and Pierre Billon. All eight French songs were performed in this semi-final.^[1][2][3]

Second Semi-Final

The second semi-final of Grand prix Suisse de la Chanson Eurovision 1959 was held on 12 January 1959 in the Bâsel Studios, in Basel, and hosted by Trudi Roth and Albert Werner. The seven German songs and one Italian song were performed in this semi-final. Christa Williams, Anita Traversi, and Jo Roland performed all the songs in this semi-final. The songs that qualified from this semi-final were "Ein kleines Schiff in einer alten Branntweinflasche", "Irgendwoher", "Die Spieldose", "Mit küssen fängt die Liebe an", and "Mein kleines Lied", but it is unknown who performed them in the semi-final.^[1][4]

Final

The final was held on 22 February 1959 in the Théâtre de Beaulieu in Lausanne and was presented by Claude Evelyne and Joël Curchod.^[4][5]

At Eurovision

At the Eurovision Song Contest 1959 in Cannes, the Swiss entry was the eighth entry of the night following Sweden and preceding Austria. At the close of voting, Switzerland had received fourteen points in total; finishing in fourth place out of eleven countries.

The Swiss entry was conducted at the contest by Franck Pourcel.

Voting

Every country had a jury of ten people. Every jury member could give one point to his or her favourite song.

Points awarded to Switzerland[6] Score Country 5 points  United Kingdom 3 points  Sweden 2 points  Denmark 1 point  Austria  Belgium  Germany  Monaco

Points awarded by Switzerland[6] Score Country 3 points  Italy  United Kingdom 1 point  France  Denmark  Germany  Austria

References