De vogels van Holland

1956 Jetty Paerl song

"De vogels van Holland" (Dutch pronunciation: [də ˈvoːɣəls vɑn ˈɦɔlɑnt], in English: "The birds of Holland") is a song by Dutch singer Jetty Paerl. Annie M. G. Schmidt and Cor Lemaire wrote it.[2] It represented Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1956.[2][3]

"De vogels van Holland"
Song by Jetty Paerl
LanguageDutch
English titleThe birds of Holland
Released1956 (1956)
GenreWaltz
Composer(s)Cor Lemaire
Lyricist(s)Annie M. G. Schmidt
Netherlands "De vogels van Holland"
Eurovision Song Contest 1956 entry
Country
Artist(s)
Language
Composer(s)
Cor Lemaire
Lyricist(s)
Annie M. G. Schmidt
Conductor
Fernando Paggi
Finals performance
Final result
2nd[a]
Final points
-
Appearance chronology
"Voorgoed voorbij" (1956) ►

Eurovision Song Contest 1956

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Jetty Paerl, song performer, in 1956.

Selection

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"De vogels van Holland" participated in the Nationaal Songfestival 1956, a national final organized by Dutch broadcaster Nederlandse Televisie Stichting (NTS) in 1956. It was held in the AVRO TV studios in Hilversum on 24 April 1956.[3]

Jetty Pearl performed the song after Corry Brokken with "Ik zei ja" and before Bert Visser with "Gina mia". People sent their votes through postcard. NTS announced the voting results on 5 May. "De vogels van Holland" placed 2nd with 1530 points. For that reason, NTS sent it to represent Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 1956. They sent the winning song, "Voorgoed voorbij", too.[3]

In the contest

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The song competed in the contest. It was held in the Teatro Kursaal in Lugano, Switzerland, on 24 May 1956. Jetty Paerl performed it.[2] Fernando Paggi conducted the orchestra.[4]

It was performed first, before Switzerland's Lys Assia with "Das alte Karussell".[1] The song position is not known because the voting results were not revealed.[5]

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  1. The song position is not known because only the winner was announced. However, the official Eurovision Song Contest website places the rest of the songs 2nd.[1]

References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 "Final of Lugano 1956". Eurovision Song Contest. Archived from the original on 11 August 2019. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Jetty Paerl - Netherlands — Lugano 1956". Eurovision Song Contest. Archived from the original on 11 August 2019. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 "NATIONAAL SONGFESTIVAL 1956". DING-A-DONG (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 11 August 2019. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  4. "Fernando Paggi". And the conductor is... Search, by year, 1956, Fernando Paggi. Archived from the original on 13 May 2018. Retrieved 23 October 2019. Dolf van der Linden from the Netherlands, who had been the musical director of the Dutch preselection, was unable to travel to Switzerland due to the fact that, for exactly the same day as the Eurovision Song Contest, an appointment had been set to perform with his Metropole Orchestra for Dutch army regiments. That is the reason why Fernando Paggi became the first ever conductor in the contest, as the Netherlands were drawn first with their entry 'De vogels van Holland', a charming waltz performed by Jetty Paerl.
  5. "Lugano 1956". Eurovision Song Contest. Archived from the original on 11 August 2019. Retrieved 11 August 2019. The scores of the voting have never been made public, leaving room for lots of speculation. Attempts to reconstruct the voting by interviewing jury members over the past five decades did not lead to any reliable outcome.