Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 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 groups of fifteen-member juries from 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.^[2]

Competing entries

The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR) received 262 submissions. On 14 and 15 November 1958, a jury appointed by SRG SSR chose sixteen to compete in Grand Prix Suisse de la Chanson Eurovision 1959.^[3] Eight entries were sung in French, seven in German, and one in Italian.^[2][4] Among the participants was Mathé Altéry who previously represented France in 1956. Other participants include Anita Traversi, who would later represent the following year and 1964, Claude Evelyne, Dominique Rolland, and Pierre Cavalli [de]; however, it is unknown which songs they performed in the semifinals.

Semi-final 1

Swiss French broadcaster Télévision suisse romande (TSR) staged the first semi-final of Grand Prix Suisse de la Chanson Eurovision 1959 on 15 December 1958 at 21:00 CET (19:00 UTC) in Geneva. It was hosted by Colette Jean and Pierre Billon.^[4] All eight French songs were performed in this semi-final. The songs that failed to qualify are "Berceuse", "C'est fou c'que tu ressembles à ta mère", "Les jours sont bien trop courts pour moi", and "Romance pour un chien", but it's unknown who performed them.^[2][3][4][6] Les Quatre Jeudis performed as the interval act during the voting.^[4]

Semi-final 2

Swiss German and Romansh broadcaster Schweizer Fernsehen der deutschen und rätoromanischen Schweiz (SF DRS) staged the second semi-final of Grand Prix Suisse de la Chanson Eurovision 1959 on 12 January 1959 at 21:00 CET (19:00 UTC) at their studios in Basel. It was hosted by Trudi Roth and Albert Werner. Seven German songs and one Italian song were performed in this semi-final. Anita Traversi, Christa Williams, and Jo Roland performed all the songs in this semi-final, with the latter two artists performing three of the songs as a duo,^[7] however it's unknown which songs they sang.^[2][8][3] Nuk the Clown [de] performed as the interval act during the voting.^[7]

Final

TSR staged the final on 22 February 1959 at 20:45 CET (18:45 UTC) in the Théâtre de Beaulieu in Lausanne. It was presented by Claude Evelyne and Joël Curchod, and musically directed by Cédric Dumont [fr].^[8][9] Dumont conducted the German-speaking songs, while Achille Scotti conducted the French songs.^[9] Les Guaranis performed as the interval acts during the voting.^[10]

The voting consisted of regional jurors from Basel, Zurich, Lugano, and Lausanne which consisted of 10 members each, who each voted their desired song.^[11] The winner was the song "Irgendwoher", written and composed by Lothar Löffler [de], and performed by Christa Williams. The song gained 9 points from Lugano and 5 from Zürich.^[11] Known results are listed in the chart below.