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Nussbaum's new book: opera and political freedom
Oxford University Press published Martha Nussbaum's 'The Republic of Love: Opera and Political Freedom' on 16 April 2026. Nussbaum reads opera, from Mozart to Verdi, as a field of political thought.
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Martha Nussbaum's new book, The Republic of Love: Opera and Political Freedom, was published by Oxford University Press on 16 April 2026. The 312-page study treats opera not merely as an art form but as a force within political thought.
Starting from Mozart
The first half of the book is given to Mozart. On Nussbaum's account Mozart proposes not only a musical but a new emotional and political landscape: dignity, freedom and the moral demands of common life.
The second half traces that influence:
- Beethoven's humanism
- Verdi's social conscience
- Britten's moral questioning
- John Adams's contemporary political engagement
- Jake Heggie's investigations of empathy
Wagner is positioned against that line, as the principal voice opposing Mozart's ideals.
Breathing
One metaphor recurs throughout: breathing as opera's counterpart to the impulse of freedom. Nussbaum makes the emergence of voice from the body a measure of political action.
Known for the capabilities approach and her theory of the emotions, Nussbaum here continues a body of work that keeps philosophy and the theory of art in contact.
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