Like most of his later operas richard strauss arabella ends with a meltingly lovely duet but then criticising strauss for composing melodically enduring operas is as pointless as lambasting vermeer for painting only exquisite interior scenes those who say strauss never improved on rosenkavalier may be right but when such beguiling sounds kept coming from his music for the next 30 years of his life there shouldnt be any quibbles arabella is in a nutshell the story of a woman who ca