Hofmannsthal's 'Arabella' is set in an externally uneventful age: the Vienna of a hundred years ago. Arabella is the oldest daughter in the Waldner family in Vienna, and is an intelligent, independent young woman who struggles to keep her head above the meaningless whirl of society life that she participates. Mandryka, is a long-awaited rescuer. Mandryka and Arabella constitute a symbol of all that is pure and strong. Arabella's discovery of herself...