Arabella was the final collaboration between Strauss and his regular librettist, Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874–1929).  Strauss wanted the work to be "a second Rosenkavalier," but Hofmannsthal died of a stroke before they were able to finish revisions.  Strauss set the libretto as it stood when Hofmannsthal passed, ultimately finishing the opera in 1932.  (Michael Kennedy, Richard Strauss)  With this work, the paradoxical situation arose that the poster composer of Nazi Germany and president of the Reichsmusikkammer had his music published by a company owned by a Jewish family. Strauss, whose business partnership with the publisher had begun in 1900, remained faithful to the Fürstners as long as it was possible at all, into the late 1930s.

Dimitri Mitropoulos was Greece’s most prolific conductor and New York Philharmonic Music Director from 1949–1958.  Widely regarded as one of the most significant conductors of the twentieth century, he is best remembered for his significant recorded legacy and for his commitment in bringing new compositions to the stage of major symphony orchestras.  Indeed, it is thanks to his efforts that many of our current symphonic standards made their way into the repertory.  He gave World and American premieres of seminal works such as Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 and Schoenberg’s Erwartung, as well as other major works by Schoenberg, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and many others.  His personal collection has been held in private hands since his death in 1960, when it passed to conductor James Dixon, his student and protégé.  Mitropoulos came to consider Dixon his son, introducing him to conductors and performing arts institutions around the world, jumpstarting his career.  When Mitropoulos died in 1960 he left all his belongings, including his scores, to Dixon.  The bulk of the musical library has been subsequently gifted to the University of Iowa’s music library, but a selection of rare items have been selected to be offered for sale exclusively by Schubertiade Music & Arts.  These examples, many inscribed to the conductor from composers or associates, have only occasional markings from the conductor himself who committed all music to memory before his first rehearsal of the repertoire - a highly unusual method!  Some of these scores, however, were also subsequently used by James Dixon as part of his working reference library for many years and include his occasional markings.