Irgendwoher

Switzerland was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1959 with the song "", written by Lothar Löffler, and performed by Christa Williams. The Swiss participating broadcaster, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR), selected its entry through a national final after having used one previously and , but choosing to internally select .

Before Eurovision

''1959''

Format

''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.

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 ''1959''. Eight entries were sung in French, seven in German, and one in Italian. Among the participants was Mathé Altéry who previously represented . Other participants include Anita Traversi, who would later represent and , Claude Evelyne, Dominique Rolland, and ; however, it is unknown which songs they performed in the semifinals.

Semi-final 1

Swiss French broadcaster (TSR) staged the first semi-final of ''1959'' on 15 December 1958 at 21:00 CET (19:00 UTC) in Geneva. It was hosted by Colette Jean and Pierre Billon. All eight French songs were performed in this semi-final. The songs that failed to qualify are "", "", "", and "", but it's unknown who performed them. Les Quatre Jeudis performed as the interval act during the voting.

Semi-final 2

Swiss German and Romansh broadcaster (SF DRS) staged the second semi-final of ''1959'' on 12 January 1959 at 21:00 CET (19:00 UTC) in the Bâsel Studios, in Basel. It was hosted by Trudi Roth and Albert Werner. The 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, however it's unknown which songs they sang. performed as the interval act during the voting.

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 . Dumont conducted the German-speaking songs, while Achille Scotti conducted the French songs. Les Guaranis performed as the interval acts during the voting.

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

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 votes in total; finishing in fourth place out of eleven countries.

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

Voting

Every participating broadcaster assembled a jury panel of ten people. Every jury member could give one vote to his or her favourite song.

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 1959

1959
Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1959
Eurovision