I would be the first to admit that there is an element of nostalgia in my affection for these singers; but I do suspect that things aren't what they used to be. I feel the same with Wagner: I go to the Opera House and hear Heldentenors that are about as heroic as a cabbage leaf. I hear Brunnhildes who struggle with, admittedly, the most taxing roles in opera. It is a far cry from Max Lorenz, Josef Greindl, Wolfgang Windgassen, Martha Mödl or Astrid Varnay, the great Bayreuth singers from the 1930s and '50s whose voices are, thank heaven, immortalised on countless recordings.

That brings us to another "what if": Ferrier was asked to sing at Bayreuth, as Brangane in Tristan and Erda in The Ring. She did not live long enough, and that is not the worst part of the terrible tragedy of her death.