TheSwiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR) held a national final to select its entry for theEurovision Song Contest 1957.[1] Songwriters who applied for the selection were required to have Swiss citizenship or to have been residing in Switzerland for at least ten years and could submit up to three songs.[2][3] SRG SSR opened a submission window in autumn 1956, with the deadline on 5 January 1957.[2][3] The broadcaster received 109 songs (69 in German, 22 in French, and 18 in Italian[4]) from 75 songwriters.[1]
The internal jury inBern were tasked with choosing at most twenty songs[2] and ultimately selected eleven songs to compete in the selection.[5][6]
The national final, entitledInternationaler Schlagerwettbewerb 1957, was held on 11 February 1957 at 21:00CET (20:00UTC) at the Embassysaal inBadrutt's Palace Hotel,St. Moritz.[6][7][8][9] It was broadcast onGerman- andFrench-speaking Swiss Television as well as on the radio stationsBeromünster,Sottens, andMonte Ceneri.[7][8][10] The director wasFranco Marazzi.[7] The program was presented byHeidi Abel in German and French, and byGiuseppe Albertini [it] in Italian.[11][12][13] The artists were accompanied byRSI's orchestra Radiosa under the musical direction ofFernando Paggi.[13][14][15] The eleven entries were performed byLys Assia, Jo Roland and Gianni Ferraresi, with Lys Assia performing five songs, Jo Roland three, and Gianni Ferraresi also three songs.[10][12] Three entries were sung in German, four in French, and four in Italian.[16] The running order was decided by a draw.[17] The overall sound and image quality of the broadcast was so low that three songs had to be repeated upon the request of the jury of St. Moritz.[14][18][11]Los Paraguayos performed as the interval act.[19]
Four regional juries, located inBasel (representing radioBeromünster),Geneva (for radioSottens),Lugano (for radioMonte Ceneri), and St. Moritz (representing Swiss Television), decided the winner.[1][17][11] Each jury consisted of ten members, with each jury member giving one vote to their favourite song.[14][20][17] 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.[14] The ten jurors from Geneva consisted of Marius Berthet (jury president), Jean-Pierre Allenbach, Robert Burnier,Raymond Colbert [fr], Jo Excoffier, Frank Guibat, Lisette Martin, Robert Pibouleau, Clairette Sacchi, andJulien-François Zbinden.[17] In the Luganese jury, Bruno Pagnamenta was the jury president.[21] The juries gave their votes via telephone.[18]
Following the voting, three songs tied for first place with 8 votes each: "La Vie" and "Avec vingt sous", sung by Jo Roland, and "L'Enfant que j'étais", performed by Lys Assia.[11][22][16] After all three songs had been performed once more, a revote of the tying entries took place to decide the winner.[15] The winner was the song "L'Enfant que j'étais", composed byGéo Voumard, with lyrics byÉmile Gardaz, arranged by Mario Robbiani, and performed byLys Assia.[14][11] The songwriters Gardaz and Voumard had already won both the national final and the Eurovision Song Contest forSwitzerland in 1956, in both occasions also with Lys Assia as singer.[23][24][21][15]
At the Eurovision Song Contest 1957 inFrankfurt, the Swiss entry was performed tenth and last in the running order, followingDenmark.[29] The Swiss entry was conducted at the contest by the event's musical directorWilly Berking.[30] At the close of voting, Switzerland had received five votes in total; the country finished shared eight among the ten participants.[31][32]
^abVillani, Silvano (12 February 1957). "Trasmesso alla televisione: il Festival svizzero della canzone".Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Vol. 82, no. 37. p. 6.OCLC1371227030.
^O'Connor, John Kennedy (2010).The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History (Updated ed.). London: Carlton. pp. 8–9.ISBN978-1-84732-521-1.OCLC699877063.
^Thorsson, Leif; Verhage, Martin (2006).Melodifestivalen genom tiderna: de Svenska uttagningarna och de internationella finalerna (in Swedish) (2nd ed.). Stockholm: Premium. p. 350.ISBN91-89136-29-2.OCLC185355414.
^"Frankfurt 1957". Eurovision Song Contest.Archived from the original on 27 March 2021. Retrieved28 August 2025.
^ab"Grand Prix Eurovision 1957 de la Chanson européenne".Bulletin de l'U.E.R. (in French).8 (41).European Broadcasting Union:109–113. January–February 1957.OCLC473721192.
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