In late June 1928 Schoeck and Hilde retired to the Fluh for a few days. They were not alone. As usual, other guests of Reinhart were present, this time Hermann Burte and Wilfried Buchmann. On the evening of 29 June there was a heated discussion in which Schoeck vented his anger on the vogue for honors and titles, honorary doctorates in particular—“You just have to look at the people who've got them!” he cried. The next morning he was woken early and emerged at half past ten to go down to bathe in the lake. A line of fancy cars was pulling up outside—“Bloody hell [Herrgott-Sterne-Cheib], not even here can you get any peace away from it all,” he grumbled, only to find that the men who emerged in dress suits were from the University of Zurich and had come to surprise him with an honorary doctorate. The rector began his speech, though at the point where he was supposed to give the specific reason why they were honoring Schoeck he forgot his lines and had to be prompted by one of his colleagues. Schoeck accepted meekly, embarrassed but with good grace.

The trip to the Fluh also brought creative results, for Schoeck was now working on a new opera. Twenty-five years later he recalled how he had visited Rüeger in Bischofszell in early summer 1928-presumably just before his outing to the Fluh—and was once more looking for a new plot.