English National Opera Guides are ideal companions to the opera. They provide stimulating introductory articles together with the complete text of each opera in English and the original language. 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 25-year collaboration with Strauss.