The parties were unable to reach agreement and set designs were already in progress

But the main sticking point was a proposed 3-D film of the production. Wenders wanted the Bayreuth Festival to provide millions in financing, and wouldn’t have been able come up with a finished movie until 2015-16. It was reported that Katharina Wagner wouldn’t tolerate this sort of ‘arrogance’.

This leaves whoever takes over  – and Katharina herself can’t be ruled out at this stage, despite her other commitments – with only a couple of years to prepare. Not a long time in the world of opera. Tankred Dorst pulled together the last Bayreuth Ring in a similar time scale after Lars von Trier withdrew and the results on that venture were mixed.

The German press has wild reports of possible directors, speculating on directors from Terry Gilliam, Pedro Aldomovar, Stephen Spielberg and Woody Allen.