Copyrights, by themselves, do not keep local opera houses from performing. Local opera houses would still be able to put on performances. Maybe just not of the old works. They'd have to perform something new, created by a contemporary composer. It seems to me copyrights actually encourage creativity by forcing creators to invent something new. Plus you say it yourself below. Copyrights give an incentive to create.

As far as music goes, there's very little that's actually original, in any genre. Bits and pieces are stolen and re-stolen over and over again. No one who does this feels stifled and lawsuits almost never occur.



Okay, so the creator is dead. Now, someone does a re-telling, re-hashing, parody, or re-interpretation of a work. To me none of those are very "creative." To me, creativity is when you make something completely new. So, maybe we also disagree about exactly what creativity is.