Sanremo Music Festival 1956
Dates
Semi-final 18 March 1956
Semi-final 29 March 1956
Final10 March 1956
Host
VenueSanremo Casino
Presenter(s)Fausto Tommei, Maria Teresa Ruta
Artistic directorGiulio Razzi
Host broadcasterProgramma nazionale
Participants
Number of entries20
Vote
Winning songFranca Raimondi
"Aprite le finestre"

The Sanremo Music Festival 1956 (Italian: Festival di Sanremo 1956), officially the 6th Italian Song Festival (6º Festival della canzone italiana), was the sixth annual Sanremo Music Festival, held at the Sanremo Casino in Sanremo, province of Imperia between 8 and 10 March 1956. The show was presented by actor Fausto Tommei, assisted by television announcer Maria Teresa Ruta.[1]

The winner of the festival was "Aprite le finestre", performed by Franca Raimondi.[1]

The festival also inspired the international Eurovision Song Contest, which held its inaugural edition this year, and the two first placed songs of this edition represented Italy at Eurovision.

Contest overview

Franca Raimondi - the performer of the winning song

According to the rules of this edition, every song was performed by a newcomer artist in the music scene.[1] The six artists were selected through the competition "Concorso nazionale per voci nuove", or short "Voci nuovi", among 6,446 participants.[1][2][3] After several selection rounds, twelve finalists participated in radio finals held on 12, 13 and 14 January 1956.[2] Radio listeners decided the final six artists for Sanremo by postcard voting.[2]

405 songs were submitted to RAI, 20 of them were selected by a professional jury to compete at the festival.[2]

This Sanremo Music Festival edition included twenty songs performed by six singers, spread over three consecutive evenings, in a format of two semi-finals and a final.[2] The first two semi-final nights were held on 8 and 9 March, and the final on 10 March 1956.[2] The festival was closed by an evening starring artists and songs from previous editions of the Sanremo Festival, held on 11 March 1956.[2]

All shows were broadcast on Programma nazionale and Italian radio at 22:00 CET.[2] The shows were presented by Fausto Tommei and Maria Teresa Ruta.[2] Giulio Razzi served as artistic director.[2] The artists were accompanied by an orchestra under the musical direction of Gian Stellari.[2] Each song was presented twice, once sung by one of the artists, and a second time in an instrumental version.[4]

Ten songs competed in each semi-final. Five songs from each night advanced to compose again ten songs for the third and final night.[5][6] The winning song was decided by 14 regional juries consisting each of 15 radio listeners, plus a jury of 70 jurors, chosen by draw from all 900 spectators in the audience in Sanremo.[2][4] The ranking and the points of the final are known while those of the semi-finals are not published.[7]

During the first semi-final, a man was arrested for throwing pamphlets, in which he criticised the selection process.[2]

Participants and results[1][8]
Song, performing artists and writer(s) Night Final rank Points
"Aprite le finestre" - Franca Raimondi
(Pinchi, Virgilio Panzuti)		 2 1 171
"Amami se vuoi" - Tonina Torrielli
(Mario Panzeri, Vittorio Mascheroni)		 2 2 163
"La vita è un paradiso di bugie" - Luciana Gonzales
(Diego Calcagno, Nino Oliviero)		 1 3 153
"Il cantico del cielo" - Tonina Torrielli
(Alberto Testa, Carlo Alberto Rossi)		 1 4 92
"La colpa fu" - Ugo Molinari
(Gippi, Luciano Beretta, Eros Sciorilli)		 2 5 88
"Il bosco innamorato" - Tonina Torrielli
(Gian Carlo Testoni, Gorni Kramer)		 2 6 77
"Albero caduto" - Ugo Molinari
(Giuseppe Fiorelli, Mario Ruccione)		 1 7 76
"Musetto (La più bella sei tu)" - Gianni Marzocchi
(Domenico Modugno)		 1 8 41
"Nota per nota" - Ugo Molinari
(Guido Viezzoli)		 1 9 24
"Due teste sul cuscino" - Ugo Molinari
(Gian Carlo Testoni, Furio Rendine)		 2 10 20
"Anima gemella" - Clara Vincenzi & Gianni Marzocchi
(Gian Carlo Testoni, Carlo Alberto Rossi)		 2 Eliminated
"È bello" - Luciana Gonzales
(Danpa, Dante Vignali)		 2 Eliminated
"Ho detto al sole" - Gianni Marzocchi
(Riccardo Morbelli, Falco)		 2 Eliminated
"Il trenino del destino" - Franca Raimondi
(Bixio Cherubini, Mario Schisa, Trama)		 1 Eliminated
"Il trenino di latta verde" - Clara Vincenzi
(Marcello Gigante, Luigi Luciano Martelli, Neri)		 2 Eliminated
"Lucia e Tobia" - Franca Raimondi & Gianni Marzocchi
(Mario Panzeri, Giovanni D'Anzi)		 2 Eliminated
"Lui e lei" - Clara Vincenzi
(Silvana Simoni, Faccenna, Mauro Casini)		 1 Eliminated
"Parole e musica" - Luciana Gonzales
(Nino Rastelli, Silvestri)		 1 Eliminated
"Qualcosa è rimasto" - Tonina Torrielli
(Pinchi, Spaggiari)		 1 Eliminated
"Sogni d'or" - Franca Raimondi & Clara Vincenzi
(Armando Costanzo, Paolo Maschio)		 1 Eliminated

Eurovision Song Contest

The two first places of this Sanremo Music Festival edition, "Aprite le finestre" sung by Franca Raimondi, and "Amami se vuoi" sung by Tonina Torrielli, went on to perform at the international Eurovision Song Contest.[9]

There were seven participating countries, and each was drawn to perform two songs in the same order via two rounds, with Italy performing last in each round, following Luxembourg. "Aprite le finestre" was performed seventh, and "Amami se vuoi" fourteenth as the last song of the evening. Only one of Switzerland's songs was declared, as the winner, after the private counting of the votes by the juries, and so the scores and placings of the two Italian songs are unknown.[10][11] The two songs were succeeded as Italian representative at the 1957 contest by Nunzio Gallo with "Corde della mia chitarra".

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Eddy Anselmi. Festival di Sanremo: almanacco illustrato della canzone italiana. Panini Comics, 2009. ISBN 8863462291.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Anselmi, Eddy (2020). Il Festival di Sanremo. 70 anni di storie, canzoni, cantanti e serate (in Italian). Milano: DeAgostini. pp. 45–49. ISBN 978-88-511-7661-7. OCLC 1206446729.
  3. ↑ "Nuove orchestre e nuovi cantanti per il prossimo festival di Sanremo". La Stampa (in Italian). 4 January 1956. p. 3. OCLC 1367283024. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  4. 1 2 "Il festival di Sanremo: La novità dell' anno: il maestro Melachrino". Corriere d'Informazione (in Italian). 6 March 1956. p. 8. OCLC 1367959909.
  5. ↑ www.festival.vivasanremo - in Italian
  6. ↑ "ESC History - Italy 1956 Sanremo Music Festival". ESC History.
  7. ↑ "Sanremo 1956 (6a Edizione)". Hit Parade Italia.
  8. ↑ "Sanremo 1956 (6a Edizione)". Hit Parade Italia.
  9. ↑ "Eurovision Song Contest 1956 (Lugano)". eurovisiontimes.wordpress.com. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  10. ↑ "Italy Week: The statistics". eurovisiontimes.wordpress.com. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  11. ↑ "Eurovision Song Contest 1956 - Facts & Figures". eurovision.tv. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  • from Diggiloo Thrush - info & lyrics for "Aprite le finestre"
  • from Diggiloo Thrush - info & lyrics for "Amami se vuoi"
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