Written in 1927, Arabella is a picture of Habsburg Vienna in the 1860s. It is partly a romantic view, involving the dark handsome stranger from Croatia who has sold his forests to come a-wooing in the city, and partly based on fact in the person of the brilliant Fiakermilli, the cab-drivers' mascot. 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. In this the opera is a moving testament to Hofmannsthal, who died before it was completed, and it remains one of the best loved products of the 25-year collaboration with Strauss.