1956 Eurovision Song Contest
| Eurovision Song Contest 1956 | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Dates | |
| Final | 24 May 1956 |
| Host | |
| Venue |
Teatro Kursaal Lugano, Switzerland |
| Presenter(s) | Lohengrin Filipello |
| Conductor | Fernando Paggi |
| Directed by | Franco Marazzi |
| Executive supervisor | Rolf Liebermann |
| Host broadcaster | Radiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italiana (RTSI) |
| Interval act | Les Joyeux Rossignols & Les Trois Ménestrels |
| Participants | |
| Number of entries | 14 (7 countries performed 2 songs each) |
| Debuting countries | |
|
|
| Vote | |
| Voting system | Two-member juries from each country awarded two points to their favourite song. |
| Winning song |
 Switzerland"Refrain" |
The Eurovision Song Contest 1956 was the first Eurovision Song Contest, held at the Teatro Kursaal in Lugano, Switzerland on Thursday 24 May.
Organised by the European Broadcasting Union, the pan-European music competition was inspired by the Italian Sanremo Music Festival. Lohengrin Filipello hosted the first contest which lasted approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes. Seven countries participated, with each of them performing two songs. Two jury members from all participating countries cast their votes in secret, based on which song was their favourite.
This first edition of the Eurovision Song Contest included several procedures that were not repeated in any subsequent edition: Two songs for each country, secret voting, double voting of one country on behalf of another, optional inclusion of the jury members' own represented country in their voting, only "Grand Prix" title reception for the winner, and a single male presenter to host the show.
During a meeting in Monaco in 1955, members of the European Broadcasting Union discussed ideas to organise a pan-European music competition, taking inspiration from the Italian Sanremo Music Festival. From that meeting, the concept of the Eurovision Song Contest was born. A decision was reached to hold the first ever contest in the Swiss resort of Lugano the following year.
The chosen venue for the contest was the Teatro Kursaal in Lugano, a city in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy. The event was also inspired by the Italian music festival, as well as that the contest was hosted in Italian.
The programme was hosted by Lohengrin Filipello, making it the only Eurovision Song Contest to have a solo male presenter and up until the 2017 edition with a male trio, the only edition without a female presenter. The programme lasted approximately one hour and 40 minutes. Although it was mainly a radio programme, there were cameras in the studio for the benefit of the few Europeans who possessed a television.
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