Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1957
| Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1957 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest 1957 | ||||
| Participating broadcaster | Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR) | |||
| Country |  Switzerland | |||
| Selection process | Internationaler Schlagerwettbewerb 1957 | |||
| Selection date | 11 February 1957 | |||
| Competing entry | ||||
| Song | "L'enfant que j'étais" | |||
| Artist | Lys Assia | |||
| Songwriters | ||||
| Placement | ||||
| Final result | 8th, 5 votes | |||
| Participation chronology | ||||
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Switzerland was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1957 with the song "L'enfant que j'étais", composed by Géo Voumard, with lyrics by Émile Gardaz, and performed by Lys Assia. The Swiss participating broadcaster, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR), selected its entry through a national final. Assia had already represented Switzerland at the previous contest performing both Swiss entries, and winning with "Refrain".
Before Eurovision
[edit]Internationaler Schlagerwettbewerb 1957
[edit]The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR) held a national final to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1957. Songwriters who applied for the selection were required to have Swiss citizenship or have resided in Switzerland for at least ten years and could submit up to three songs. The deadline for song submissions was on 5 January. The broadcaster received 109 song submissions (69 in German, 22 in French, and 18 in Italian) from 75 songwriters.[1][2]
The internal jury in Bern were tasked to rank at most twenty songs[2] and ultimately selected eleven songs to compete in the selection, six of which were in French, three were in Italian, and two were in German.[3][4] Three artists competed to represent Switzerland, among whom was Lys Assia— who won for Switzerland in 1956.
The national final was staged on 11 February 1957 at 21:00 CET (19:00 UTC) in Badrutt's Palace Hotel, St. Moritz.[4] It was presented by Heidi Abel and Giuseppe Albertini, with Fernando Paggi serving as the musical director and accompanying the orchestra.[5][6][7]
The voting consisted 4 regional juries from Basel, Geneva, Lugano, and St. Moritz, which consisted of 10 members each, who each voted their desired song.[6][8] The jury members from St. Mortiz were present within the location of the final, while the remaining juries delivered their votes in their respective cities.[6] The ten jurors from St. Moritz consisted of Marius Berthet (jury president), J.P. Allenbach, Robert Burnier, Raymond Colbert, Jo Excoffier, Frank Guiba, Lisette Martin, Robert Pibouleau, Clairette Sacchi, and Julien-François Zbinden.[9]
Following the voting, three songs tied for first place with 8 votes; "La vie" and "Avec vingt sous" by Jo Roland and "L'enfant que j'étais" by Lys Assia. After all three songs performed once more, a revote of the tying acts took place to decide the winner.[7] This event is notable for being the earliest known instance of a tiebreaker in a national final for the Eurovision Song Contest. The winner was the song "L'enfant que j'étais", written by Émile Gardaz, composed by Géo Voumard, and performed by Lys Assia.
| R/O | Artist | Song | Language | Songwriters | Total | Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Composer | Lyricist | ||||||
| 1 | Jo Roland | "La vie" | French | Pierre Gisin | 8 | 1 | |
| 2 | Lys Assia | "L'enfant que j'étais" | French | Émile Gardaz | Géo Voumard | 8 | 1 |
| 3 | Gianni Ferraresi | "Lasciami tranquillo" | Italian | Renato Ranzanici | 0 | 9 | |
| 4 | Lys Assia | "Derrière la cathedrale" | French | Achille Scott | Dominique Roland | 2 | 6 |
| 5 | Gianni Ferraresi | "Nel mio carnet" | Italian | Giovanni Pelli | Mario Robbiani | 0 | 9 |
| 6 | Gianni Ferraresi | "Bellissima" | Italian | Giovanni Pelli | Mario Robbiani | 7 | 4 |
| 7 | Jo Roland | "Avec vingt sous" | French | Dominique Roland | 8 | 1 | |
| 8 | Lys Assia | "Musst du schon geh'n?" | German | Tibor Kasics | Jürg Amstein | 0 | 9 |
| 9 | Jo Roland | "Quand je rêve" | French | Géo Voumard | Émile Gardaz | 1 | 8 |
| 10 | Lys Assia | "Ein trautes Lied vom turm herab" | German | Franz Hutter | 4 | 5 | |
| 11 | Lys Assia | "Ça n'epechera pas" | French | André Bühlmann | 2 | 6 | |
| R/O | Song | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "La vie" | 4 | 2 | 2 | 8 | |
| 2 | "L'enfant que j'étais" | 4 | 1 | 3 | 8 | |
| 3 | "Lasciami tranquillo" | 0 | ||||
| 4 | "Derrière la cathedrale" | 2 | 2 | |||
| 5 | "Nel mio carnet" | 0 | ||||
| 6 | "Bellissima" | 6 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 7 | "Avec vingt sous" | 3 | 4 | 1 | 8 | |
| 8 | "Musst du schon geh'n?" | 0 | ||||
| 9 | "Quand je rêve" | 1 | 1 | |||
| 10 | "Ein trautes Lied vom turm herab" | 2 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 11 | "Ça n'epechera pas" | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| R/O | Artist | Song | Total | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jo Roland | "La vie" | 14 | 2 |
| 2 | Lys Assia | "L'enfant que j'étais" | 17 | 1 |
| 3 | Jo Roland | "Avec vingt sous" | 9 | 3 |
| R/O | Song | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "La vie" | 6 | 5 | 3 | 14 | |
| 2 | "L'enfant que j'étais" | 7 | 5 | 5 | 17 | |
| 3 | "Avec vingt sous" | 4 | 3 | 2 | 9 |
At Eurovision
[edit] | This section needs additional citations for verification. (April 2025) |
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At the Eurovision Song Contest 1957 in Frankfurt, the Swiss entry was the last of the night following Denmark. The Swiss entry was conducted at the contest by the event's musical director Willy Berking. At the close of voting, Switzerland had received five votes in total; the country finished shared eight among the ten participants.
Voting
[edit]Each participating broadcaster assembled a ten-member jury panel. Every jury member could give one vote to their favourite song.
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References
[edit]- ^ "Schweizer Ausscheidung - Finale Suisse - Finale Svizzera 1957". Vorstadt Music & Records. Retrieved 22 January 2025.
- ^ a b "II° Concours international de la Chanson" [2nd International Song Contest]. Radio Je vois tout (in French). 8 November 1956. p. 21. Retrieved 27 July 2025 – via Scriptorium.
- ^ "Concours National — Grand Prix Eurovision 1957 de la Chanson européene" [National Competition — Eurovision Grand Prix 1957]. Radio Je vois tout (in French). 24 January 1957. p. 18. Retrieved 27 July 2025 – via Scriptorium.
- ^ a b c "Sarà scelta lunedi la più bella canzone svizzera" [The most beautiful Swiss song will be chosen on Monday]. Eco di Locarno (in Italian). Locarno, Switzerland. 9 February 1957. p. 3. Retrieved 22 January 2025 – via Sistema bibliotecario ticinese.
- ^ "Per una canzone «nazionale»" [For a "national" song]. Giornale del Popolo (in Italian). Lugano, Switzerland. 12 February 1957. p. 2. Retrieved 22 January 2025 – via Sistema bibliotecario ticinese.
- ^ a b c d e Marino (13 February 1957). "'L'enfant que j'étais' ha vinto a St. Moritz il Festival della canzone svizzera" ['L'enfant que j'étais' wins the Swiss Song Festival in St. Moritz]. Libera Stampa (in Italian). Lugano, Switzerland. p. 2. Retrieved 22 January 2025 – via Sistema bibliotecario ticinese.
- ^ a b c d e "Quelques instants avec Émile Gardaz et Géo Voumard" [A few moments with Émile Gardaz and Géo Voumard]. Radio Je vois tout. 21 February 1957. Retrieved 22 October 2024 – via Scriptorium.
- ^ a b c "'L'enfant que j'étais' canzone svizzera 1957" ['L'enfant que j'étais' Swiss song 1957]. 14 February 1957. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
- ^ "Le Grand Prix Européen de la Chanson" [The European Song Grand Prix]. Radio Je vois tout. 7 February 1957. p. 24. Retrieved 23 July 2025 – via Scriptorium.
- ^ "Unterhaltungsmusik" [Light Music]. Die Tat (in German). 9 February 1957. p. 12. Retrieved 29 July 2025 – via E-newspaperarchives.ch.
- ^ a b "Results of the Final of Frankfurt 1957". Eurovision Song Contest. Archived from the original on 27 March 2021. Retrieved 27 March 2021.