Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 1959
Germany was represented by twins Alice & Ellen Kessler, with the song '"Heute Abend wollen wir tanzen geh'n", at the 1959 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 11 March in Cannes, France. For the first time, the German entry was chosen internally rather than through a public final.
| Eurovision Song Contest 1959 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |  | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Internal Selection | |||
| Selected entrant | Alice & Ellen Kessler | |||
| Selected song | "Heute Abend wollen wir tanzen geh'n" | |||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Final result | 8th, 5 points | |||
| Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
| ||||
At Eurovision
On the night of the final the Kesslers performed 6th in the running order, following eventual contest winners the Netherlands and preceding Sweden. Of the eleven entries, only the German and Italian songs had a sound approaching contemporary music styles of 1959, and the Kesslers further livened up their performance with a choreographed instrumental break, a first in Eurovision. However, the criticism which would be made of Eurovision juries for decades to come – that they persistently rejected contemporary-sounding songs in favour of ones in a safer and more traditional style – seemed to apply in 1959, as at the close of voting "Heute Abend wollen wir tanzen geh'n" had received only 5 points, placing Germany 8th. The German jury awarded its highest mark (4) to France.[1]
Points awarded to Germany
| 10 points | 9 points | 8 points | 7 points | 6 points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |
Points awarded by Germany
| 10 points | |
| 9 points | |
| 8 points | |
| 7 points | |
| 6 points | |
| 5 points | |
| 4 points |  |
| 3 points | .svg.png){kind=small} |
| 2 points |  |
| 1 point |  |