Arabella

Arabella, Op. 79, is a lyric comedy, or opera, in three acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, their sixth and last operatic collaboration.

==Performance history== It was first performed on 1 July 1933 at the Dresden Sächsisches Staatstheater, shortly followed by its Austrian premiere at Wiener Staatsoper on 21 October 1933. The opera received its premiere in the UK on 17 May 1934 at London's Royal Opera House. The premiere in the Americas was at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires on 16 August 1934, conducted by Fritz Busch, with Margarete Teschemacher in the title role. Two decades later, on 10 February 1955, it was performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, sung in English, with Eleanor Steber in the title role. The Met has given numerous performances of the work since that date, sung in German starting in 1983. At the 2008 Helpmann Awards, the production by Opera Australia won the Award for Best Opera.