Written in 1927, Arabella is a portrait - partly romanticized, partly factual - of Habsburg Vienna in the 1860s. It is also a celebration of the profound importance of courage and the ability to forgive in love. Our sympathies are not only drawn to Arabella, who waits for "the right man" to come, but to her younger sister, who breaks with conventional morality in the cause of her love.

This opera is a moving testament to Hugo von Hofmannsthal, who died before it was completed, and it remains one of the best-loved products of his twenty-five- year collaboration with Strauss.

Contents: The Edge of the Cliff, Michael Ratcliffe; A Musical Synopsis, William Mann; A Profound Simplicity, Patrick J. Smith; Hofmannsthal's Last Libretto, Karen Forsyth; Arabella: Libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal; Arabella: English translation by John Gutman