Revisiting Copenhagen 1964 with a contemporary lens

Danish broadcaster DR has enabled us to deliver you one thing very particular at eurovision.com: A uncommon crystal-clear view inside Copenhagen 1964.

Famously, from 70 years of the Eurovision Song Contest, there are two editions of which no full recordings exist – Lugano 1956 and Copenhagen 1964.

In the sooner years of the Eurovision Song Contest, tv know-how was nonetheless evolving and recordings had been usually not preserved. Or, as a result of tape was costly, recordings had been generally wiped and the tape reused. In the case of Copenhagen 1964, DR broadcast the Contest stay, however as with their very own pre-selection Melodi Grand Prix from 1957 to 1966, they didn’t file it. As a outcome, the ninth version has handed into Eurovision legend; it stays lacking in full, with solely audio of the Contest, video fragments and recollections surviving.

Now, because of pictures from Danish broadcaster DR’s archive, we have been in a position to give the Copenhagen 1964 web page of our web site’s Eurodex a whole makeover. There, you will see a contemporary view of all 16 members on stage, and you will additionally be capable of learn each artist’s story, too.

As with each web page on Eurodex, you can see the ultimate scoreboard and take a look at the voting information for every nation. And remember you possibly can rank the 16 songs and share with pals and fellow followers once you use the official Eurovision app to entry Eurodex.

Now, to mark the event, we have a look again at Copenhagen 1964.

The ninth version of the Eurovision Song Contest befell on Saturday 21 March 1964 in Copenhagen.

In our 70-year historical past, we have had 14 Contests hosted within the Nordic area. 1964 was our very first Scandi spectacular, coming to us from the Tivoli Concert Hall within the Danish capital. This adopted Denmark’s first Eurovision victory one 12 months earlier, with the track Dansevise by Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann.

Presented by Lotte Wæver, we had a complete of 16 nations participating for a fourth consecutive 12 months. Portugal joined the social gathering for the very first time, with broadcaster RTP sending António Calvário to characterize his nation with the track Oração. For them, the ‘festa’ ended on a disappointing be aware, with Portugal changing into the primary nation to earn ‘nul factors’ on its debut outing. In this occasion, that they had loads of firm on the backside of scoreboard, nonetheless, with Germany, Switzerland and Yugoslavia all being gifted their very first ‘nul factors’, too.

If at first you do not succeed…

As effectively as Portugal’s first look, 1964 noticed one other Eurovision Song Contest icon make its debut – Udo Jürgens. The Austrian singer completed in sixth place for his nation with Warum Nur, Warum? and would famously go on to characterize Austria once more in 1965 (Sag Ihr, Ich Lass Sie Grüßen, fourth place) and one final time in 1966, when he lastly claimed that coveted first win for Austria with Merci, Chérie.

In a reversal of Udo’s Eurovision expertise, Copenhagen 1964 had Anita Traversi finishing a hat-trick of appearances for Austria’s neighbour, Switzerland. Anita had carried out backing vocals for the inaugural Eurovision winner in 1956, Refrain by Lys Assia, earlier than returning to characterize Switzerland in 1960, this time as a solo performer ending in eighth place with Cielo E Terra. 1964 was Anita’s third and ultimate look on the Contest, although that would not have been the case had Anita’s Eurovision desires come to fruition; the singer had competed unsuccessfully in Swiss pre-selections in 1976, 1967, 1963 and 1961, in addition to the very first Swiss nationwide ultimate for Lugano 1956.

From London with love

For its seventh participation on the Eurovision Song Contest, the United Kingdom despatched an enormous star to characterize them. Matt Monro has already loved a string of hits at residence within the United Kingdom, in addition to Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and the US. One 12 months previous to Copenhagen 1964, cinema-goers all internationally had heard Matt carry out the theme track of the identical identify to the most recent James Bond movie, From Russia With Love.

Matt Monroe ended up having a giant chart hit on each side of the Atlantic with one of many songs from Copenhagen 1964 – although it wasn’t together with his personal entry, I Love The Little Things! Instead, he’d turn out to be so enamoured with Udo Jürgens’ entry for Austria, Warum Nur, Warum?, Matt determined to file and launch an English-language model, Walk Away. It would give him what stays to at the present time his second-highest charting single in each the UK (quantity 4) and the US (quantity 23).

A 12 months of firsts

Our lineup of members lastly began to look a little bit completely different at Copenhagen 1964. Spain gave the Eurovision Song Contest its first group, when Tim, Nelly and Tony took to the stage with their candy Caracola. As the principles dictated that solely soloists or duos might compete, the trio had to participate as Nelly singing lead and Tim and Tony performing back-up. Meanwhile, Netherlands was represented by Eurovision’s first PoC performer, in addition to the primary to be born exterior of Europe (in Indonesia), Anneke Grönloh.

We additionally had a brand-new scoring system in place. Each jury was given 9 factors to allocate throughout three songs. In each case, the jury gave 5 factors to its best choice, three to its subsequent favorite and one level to its third. In 1964, the ‘trophy’ was an engraved medallion made from silver.

Victory ‘numero uno’ for Italy

Copenhagen 1964 gave us a first-time winner! Italy achieved its very first Eurovision victory courtesy of Gigliola Cinquetti performing Non Ho l’Eta. At 16 years and 92 days of age on the evening of the Contest, Gigliola Cinquetti grew to become the youngest Eurovision winner but; a file she held onto till Sandra Kim introduced Belgium its first victory at Bergen 1986.

Cinquetti’s win with 49 factors was by a exceptional margin, practically 3 times that of Matt Monro in second place. The singer would return to the Contest at Brighton 1974 as a competitor, at Rome 1991 as a number and at Turin 2022 as an interval act, performing her Copenhagen 1964 winner.

Thanks to the work of broadcaster Yle in Finland, beforehand misplaced footage from the 1964 successful efficiency by Italy’s Gigliola Cinquetti has been rediscovered and is now a part of the official Eurovision archive and, because of rights holder DR, obtainable to followers worldwide on the Eurovision YouTube channel, alongside every winning performance in the Contest’s history.

In April 2026, the Eurovision Song Contest launched a worldwide search to uncover lacking recordings of two of the Contest’s earliest editions: Lugano 1956 and Copenhagen 1964. We consider that copies – or fragments – of those reveals might nonetheless exist; In personal collections, in broadcaster vaults, on outdated movie reels, and even tucked away in an attic, lengthy forgotten.

Read all about it and be a part of the search!

All photographs have been supplied by DR Archive beneath licence.