The Netherlands held a national final to select the two entrants that

Nederlandse Televisie Stichting The Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (; NOS ; English: Dutch Broadcasting Foundation) is one of the broadcasting organisations making up the Netherlands Public Broadcasting system. It has a special statutory obligation to make news and sports program ...

(NTS), the Dutch broadcaster, would send to the inaugural Eurovision Song Contest in

Lugano Lugano (, , ; lmo, label=Ticinese dialect, Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Luga ...

, 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 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 Fernando Paggi (3 July 1914 – 14 January 1973) was a Swiss conductor and musician known for conducting the Swiss entries for three Eurovision Song Contests. He was also the conductor of the Radio Monte Ceneri Orchestra. Competitions * Eurovis ...

. 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 Lia Dorana (18 July 1918 – 4 December 2010) was a Dutch comedian and actress. Dorana was born Beppy van Werven in The Hague on 18 July 1918. She was discovered by Dutch singer and cabaret singer Wim Sonneveld, with whom she launched her early c ...

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 ...