The pianist Gerald Moore was a famous accompanist. When he started his career in the 1920s people did not think that the accompanist was very important. Sometimes their name would not even be printed in the programme. A singer would expect the audience to start to clap as soon as they had sung their last note, even if the piano had several more bars to play. This might not matter too much with some music, but in songs by Schubert, Wolf and other composers of Lieder the piano parts are very important. Gerald Moore made people realize how important the accompanist is. A good performance can be ruined by a bad accompaniment.