I have been trying to find out exactly when listeners and performers decided that applause between movements would not be allowed, but nobody seems to have been willing to admit that they were the culprit.

Mozart often wrote to his family that certain variations or sections of pieces were so successful that they had to be encored immediately, even without waiting for the entire piece to end.

Pianists don't argue too much generally because we have a hard enough time just getting things right. Arguing is for string players.

The sheer force of the music calls for a wild audience reaction.

I have been trying to find out exactly when listeners and performers decided that applause between movements would not be allowed, but nobody seems to have been willing to admit that they were the culprit.

All of us love applause, and so we should - it means that the listener likes us!

If there were no rules about when to applaud, we in the audience would have the right response almost always.