TheEurovision Song Contest 1958, originally known as theGrand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson Européenne 1958 (English:Grand Prix of the Eurovision Song Contest 1958[1]), was the third edition of theEurovision Song Contest, held on Wednesday 12 March 1958 at theAVRO Studios inHilversum, the Netherlands, and presented byHannie Lips. It was organised by theEuropean Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcasterNederlandse Televisie Stichting (NTS). This marked the first time that the contest was hosted by the preceding year's winning broadcaster, a tradition that has been continued, with some exceptions, ever since.
Broadcasters from ten countries participated in the contest, equalling the number which took part the previous year;Sweden made its first appearance in the contest, while theUnited Kingdom decided not to participate.
The winner of the contest wasFrance, represented by the song "Dors mon amour" performed byAndré Claveau, marking the first of five eventual wins for the country. Another entry however made a greater impact following the contest; the Italian entry, "Nel blu, dipinto di blu" performed byDomenico Modugno which had placed third, became a worldwide hit for Modugno, winning twoGrammy Awards in 1959 and becoming a chart success in several countries.
AVRO Studios, Hilversum – host venue of the 1958 contest
The 1958 contest took place inHilversum, the Netherlands. The selected venue was theAVRO Studios, which served at the time as the main radio and television broadcasting facilities of the Dutch broadcasterAVRO.[2][3] Often called "media city", Hilversum is the principal centre for radio and television broadcasting in the Netherlands and is the location of several of the organisations that make up theNederlandse Publieke Omroep (NPO) public broadcasting organisation.[4][5]
Although they had won in 1957, the Netherlands' did not receive automatic rights to host the contest, as the convention in place at the time specified that each broadcaster would stage the event in turns.[6] TheBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) had been the first choice to stage the event in the United Kingdom, but gave up the rights after failing to reach agreement with artisticunions.[7] Subsequently, the Dutch broadcaster,Nederlandse Televisie Stichting (NTS), only received the rights to host the event after other broadcasters declined the opportunity.[6][8][9] This established the tradition that the previous year's winner would host it the following year.[10][11]
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Eurovision Song Contest 1958 – Participation summaries by country
Ten countries participated in the 1958 contest, the same number as had featured in the previous year's event. Sweden entered the contest for the first time, while the United Kingdom decided not to compete, despite having originally intended to participate and being listed as one of the participating countries in the original rules dated November 1957.[2][7][10]Monaco had also intended to submit an entry, but ultimately did not feature among the participating nations.[12]
Several of the participants had previously competed in the contest. Switzerland'sLys Assia and the Netherlands'Corry Brokken had both represented their countries in 1956 and 1957, and were both former winners; Assia was the first winner of the contest in 1956 with the song "Refrain", and had also performed Switzerland's other entry in that contest "Das alte Karussell", while Brokken had performed "Voorgoed voorbij" in the 1956 contest, one of the Netherlands' two entries, and was then the winner the following year with the song "Net als toen".[13][14]Fud Leclerc had also competed forBelgium in 1956, performing "Messieurs les noyés de la Seine", one of the country's two entries, andMargot Hielscher returned for a second year in a row, after representingGermany in 1957 with "Telefon, Telefon".[13][14]
The stage and orchestra at the Eurovision Song Contest 1958
The contest was organised and broadcast by NTS, with Piet te Nuyl Jr. serving as producer, Gijs Stappershoef serving as director, andDolf van der Linden serving asmusical director, leading theMetropole Orkest during the event.[18][19][20] Each participating delegation was allowed to nominate its own musical director to lead the orchestra during the performance of its country's entry, with the host musical director alsoconducting for those countries which did not nominate their own conductor.[16]
Held in one of the studios of the AVRO broadcasting complex, the hall contained a small stage for the singers, with the orchestra situatedstage right. The rear of the performance area had interchangeable backgrounds for each song to add context to each song's lyrics, which could also be removed to show the scoreboard during the voting sequence, and the venue was decorated with thousands oftulips.[2][21]
No significant changes to the rules of the 1957 contest were implemented; each country, participating through one EBU member broadcaster, was represented by one song performed by up to two people on stage.[2][10] Due to several entries having violated the duration limit in the previous event, the maximum song limit of 3 minutes and 30 seconds was more stringently enforced for this year's entries.[6] The voting system was the same as the one used the previous year; the results were determined through jury voting, with each country's jury containing ten individuals who each gave one vote to their favourite song, with no abstentions allowed and with jurors unable to vote for their own country.[18]
The contest was held on 12 March 1958 at 21:00 (CET), with an approximate duration of 1 hour and 10 minutes.[22][23] The contest was hosted by Dutch presenterHannie Lips.[2][16] A performance by theMetropole Orkest featured as theinterval act between the final competing performance and the commencement of the voting results, which included a rendition of "Cielito lindo".[24] In addition, after the first five songs, the Metropole Orkest performed the "Wedding Dance" from the Symphonic Suite "Hasseneh" byJacques Press [nl] as an interval act to give the juries a break to deliberate.[25]
During the live transmission of the contest several countries were unable to see or hear the Italian entry, which was the first act to perform, due to a technical fault, and it was subsequently allowed to perform again after the last song.[9][16][26]
The Italian entry, "Nel blu, dipinto di blu" performed byDomenico Modugno, went on to become a worldwide success, and was one of the first Eurovision songs to achieve notability outside of the contest.[9] Popularly known as "Volare", the song went to number one in the USBillboardHot 100, as well as reaching the top 5 in singles charts in Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands and Norway, and the top 10 in the United Kingdom, and was namedRecord of the Year andSong of the Year at thefirst edition of theGrammy Awards held in May 1959.[29][30][31][32][33] The song has beencovered by several artists, includingDean Martin,Dalida andGipsy Kings, and many new versions with lyrics in different languages have been produced.[34][35] "Nel blu, dipinto di blu" was also nominated in 2005 to compete inCongratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest, a special broadcast to determine the contest's most popular entry of its first 50 years as part of the contest's anniversary celebrations. One of 14 entries chosen to compete, "Nel blu, dipinto di blu" ultimately finished in second place behind "Waterloo",ABBA's winning song from the1974 contest.[36][37]
Results of the Eurovision Song Contest 1958[16][38]
Each participating broadcaster appointed a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for its respective country via telephone.[11] Known spokespersons at the 1958 contest are listed below.
Broadcasters competing in the event were required to relay the contest via its networks; non-participating EBU member broadcasters were also able to relay the contest. Broadcasters were able to send commentators to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language and to relay information about the artists and songs to their television viewers.[44] Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.
No official accounts of the viewing figures are known to exist. In his introductory remarks, the Dutch commentator stated that a total number of "about 25 million viewers" across Europe could be estimated.[25]
Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
^abGrand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson Européenne 1958 [Eurovision Grand Prix of European Song 1958] (Television programme) (in Dutch).Hilversum, Netherlands:Nederlandse Televisie Stichting (NTS). 12 March 1958.
Roxburgh, Gordon (2012).Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. One: The 1950s and 1960s.Prestatyn, United Kingdom:Telos Publishing.ISBN978-1-84583-065-6.
Roxburgh, Gordon (2014). "Errata".Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. Two: The 1970s.Prestatyn, United Kingdom:Telos Publishing. pp. 368–372.ISBN978-1-84583-065-6.
Thorsson, Leif; Verhage, Martin (2006).Melodifestivalen genom tiderna : de svenska uttagningarna och internationella finalerna [Melodifestivalen through the ages: the Swedish selections and international finals] (in Swedish).Stockholm, Sweden: Premium Publishing.ISBN91-89136-29-2.
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