I blame the guard of honour formed by Geneva’s Grenadier Society outside the Grand Théâtre. It was there to mark the first time the International Wagner Congress had met in Switzerland but perhaps it raised expectations of conventional pageantry.

Were these delegates really behind the aggressive, wholly unjustified booing that greeted Daniel Slater, the producer, at curtain call? Either that or sterling efforts by Geneva’s intendant Jean-Marie Blanchard to promote theatrically valid stagings have failed to convince the home audience.