The Netherlands held a national final to select the two entrants that Nederlandse Televisie Stichting (NTS), the Dutch broadcaster, would send to the inaugural Eurovision Song Contest in Lugano, Switzerland. The final was held on 24 April 1956.

Before Eurovision

Nationaal Songfestival ''1956''

The final was held on 24 April 1956 at the AVRO TV Studios in

Hilversum Hilversum () is a city and municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is the largest urban centre in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller towns. Hilvers ...

, hosted by Karin Kraaykamp. The songs were ranked by postcard voting. The top two songs were "Voorgoed voorbij", written and composed by Jelle de Vries, and "De vogels van Holland", written by

Annie M. G. Schmidt Anna Maria Geertruida "Annie" Schmidt (20 May 1911 – 21 May 1995) was a Dutch writer. She is called the mother of the Dutch theatrical song, and the queen of Dutch children's literature, praised for her "delicious Dutch idiom," and considered o ...

and composed by Cor Lemaire.

At Eurovision

There were seven participating countries, and each was drawn to perform two songs in the same order via two rounds, with Netherlands performing first in each round, making "" the first song performed in the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

history. Both of the Dutch entries were conducted at the contest by the musical director Fernando Paggi. Each country nominated two jury members who voted for their respective country by giving between one and ten points to each song, including those representing their own country. All jury members were colocated in a separate room in the venue in Lugano and followed the contest via a television set. The Dutch jury members were Lia Dorana and .

References

External links

Dutch National Final page
* * {{Eurovision Song Contest 1956

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1956

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...