To be deprived of art and left alone with philosophy is to be close to Hell.
Composers combine notes, that's all.
Nothing is likely about masterpieces, least of all whether there will be any.
One has a nose. The nose scents and it chooses. An artist is simply a kind of pig snouting truffles.
I never understood the need for a "live" audience. My music, because of its extreme quietude, would be happiest with a dead one.
The Church knew what the psalmist knew: Music praises God. Music is well or better able to praise him than the building of the church and all its decoration; it is the Church's greatest ornament.