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 Italian Television and Secondo Programma at 22:00 CET, with a deferred broadcast on television starting on 22:45 CET for semi-final 1.[2][4][5] 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, this time played by the orchestra of George Melachrino.[6][7] Before the voting started, a short recap of all songs was played on the piano by Alberto Semprini.[8]

Ten songs competed in each semi-final. Five songs from each night advanced to compose again ten songs for the third and final night.[9] 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][6] The ranking and the points of the final are known while only a part of those of the semi-finals are known.[10]

Semi-final 1

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

Semifinal 1 – 8 March 1956[2][7][8][11][12][13]
R/O Artist Song Songwriter(s) Place Points
1 Clara Vincenzi "Lui e lei"
  • Silvana Simoni
  • Angelo Faccenna
  • Mauro Casini
Eliminated
2 Ugo Molinari "Nota per nota" Guido Viezzoli 4 279
3 Franca Raimondi "Il trenino del destino"
Eliminated
4 Luciana Gonzales "La vita è un paradiso di bugie"
1 295
5 Franca Raimondi "Sogni d'or"
  • Armando Costanzo
  • Paolo Maschio
Eliminated
6 Ugo Molinari "Albero caduto"
  • Giuseppe Fiorelli
  • Mario Ruccione
2 281
7 Tonina Torrielli "Qualcosa è rimasto"
  • Pinchi
  • Luigi Spaggiari
Eliminated
8 Gianni Marzocchi "Musetto" Domenico Modugno 5 170
9 Luciana Gonzales "Parole e musica"
  • Nino Rastelli
  • Franco Silvestri
Eliminated
10 Tonina Torrielli "Il cantico del cielo"
3 280

Semi-final 2

Semifinal 2 – 9 March 1956[2][14]
R/O Artist Song Songwriter(s) Place Points
1 Clara Vincenzi & Gianni Marzocchi "Anima gemella"
Eliminated
2 Gianni Marzocchi "Ho detto al sole"
  • Riccardo Morbelli
  • Franco Falco
Eliminated
3 Franca Raimondi & Gianni Marzocchi "Lucia e Tobia" Eliminated
4 Clara Vincenzi "Il trenino di latta verde"
  • Marcello Gigante
  • Luigi Luciano Martelli
  • Ennio Neri
Eliminated
5 Ugo Molinari "Due teste sul cuscino"
2 294
6 Ugo Molinari, with Luciana Gonzales, Franca Raimondi, Tonina Torrielli, Clara Vincenzi "La colpa fu"
  • Gippi
  • Luciano Beretta
  • Eros Sciorilli
3 266
7 Franca Raimondi "Aprite le finestre"
  • Pinchi
  • Virgilio Panzuti
1 306
8 Tonina Torrielli "Amami se vuoi"
4 265
9 Tonina Torrielli "Il bosco innamorato"
5 178
10 Luciana Gonzales "È bello"
  • Danpa
  • Dante Vignali
Eliminated

Final

Prizes were handed out to the first three places.[15]

Final – 10 March 1956[1][2][15]
R/O Artist Song Place Points
1 Gianni Marzocchi "Musetto" 8 41
2 Tonina Torrielli "Il bosco innamorato" 6 77
3 Ugo Molinari, with Luciana Gonzales, Franca Raimondi, Tonina Torrielli, Clara Vincenzi "La colpa fu" 5 88
4 Tonina Torrielli "Amami se vuoi" 2 163
5 Ugo Molinari "Nota per nota" 9 24
6 Tonina Torrielli "Il cantico del cielo" 4 92
7 Ugo Molinari "Albero caduto" 7 76
8 Luciana Gonzales "La vita è un paradiso di bugie" 3 153
9 Ugo Molinari "Due teste sul cuscino" 10 20
10 Franca Raimondi "Aprite le finestre" 1 171

At Eurovision

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 1956.[16]

There were seven participating countries, and each performed 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. An international jury composed of two jurors from each participating country decided the winner:[17] The two Italian jurors were the conductors Tito Petralia and Cinico Angelini.[18]

Only the winner – one of Switzerland's songs – was announced, after the private counting of the votes by the juries, and so the scores and placings of the two Italian songs are unknown.[19][20] The two songs were succeeded as Italian representative at the 1957 contest by Nunzio Gallo with "Corde della mia chitarra".

The contest was broadcast in Italy on Programma nazionale and Secondo Programma.[21]

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 14 15 16 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. "Oggi e domani alla radio". Stampa Sera (in Italian). 9 March 1956. p. 6. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
  5. "Radio-TV". Il Tempo (in Italian). 8 March 1956. p. 5. OCLC 1367961551.
  6. 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.
  7. 1 2 "Stasera a San Remo il Festival della Canzone". Il Tempo (in Italian). 8 March 1956. p. 3. OCLC 1367961551.
  8. 1 2 Grazzini, Enzo (9 March 1959). "Ascoltate le prime dieci canzoni del sesto Festival di Sanremo". Corriere della sera (in Italian). p. 5. OCLC 1371227030.
  9. "Festival di Sanremo del 1956". vivasanremo.com (in Italian). Archived from the original on 23 February 2017. Retrieved 10 December 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  10. "Sanremo 1956 (6a Edizione)". Hit Parade Italia.
  11. Campanile, Achille (9 March 1956). "Fiori, eleganza, voci nuove (ma la musica è sempre quella)". Corriere d'Informazione (in Italian). p. 3. OCLC 1367959909.
  12. Antonucci, Antonio (9 March 1956). "La prima selezione al Festival della canzone". La Stampa (in Italian). p. 6. OCLC 1371227030. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
  13. Aragozzini, Adriano (2013). Enciclopedia del Festival di Sanremo : l'Italia della musica e del costume (in Italian) (Revised and augmented ed.). Roma: Rai Eri. p. 26. ISBN 978-88-397-1601-9. OCLC 855996019.
  14. Grazzini, Enzo (10 March 1956). "Serata di canzoni orecchiabili al sesto Festival di Sanremo". Corriere della sera (in Italian). p. 5. OCLC 1371227030.
  15. 1 2 Grazzini, Enzo (11 March 1956). "Laureate le tre canzoni del sesto Festival di Sanremo". Corriere della sera (in Italian). p. 5. OCLC 1371227030.
  16. "Eurovision Song Contest 1956 (Lugano)". eurovisiontimes.wordpress.com. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  17. "Reglement du Grand Prix Eurovision 1956 de la Chanson Européenne (version définitive)" [Rules of the Grand Prix of the Eurovision Song Competition 1956 (final version)] (PDF) (in French). European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 June 2016.
  18. Antonucci, Antonio (25 May 1956). "Il profumo dell'amore a vent'anni nella 'canzone più bella d'Europa'". Stampa Sera (in Italian). p. 7.
  19. "Italy Week: The statistics". eurovisiontimes.wordpress.com. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  20. "Eurovision Song Contest 1956 - Facts & Figures". eurovision.tv. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  21. "Oggi e domani alla radio". Stampa Sera (in Italian). 24 May 1956. p. 6. OCLC 1367283024. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
  • from Diggiloo Thrush - info & lyrics for "Aprite le finestre"
  • from Diggiloo Thrush - info & lyrics for "Amami se vuoi"
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