In the year 1827 my friends, John Mansfield, Esq., and Doctor Hill, consulted me upon the propriety of having a musical festival at Leicester, for the benefit of the Infirmary...The excellence of the performance, and the accuracy with which many new choruses were executed, was a matter of surprise and gratification to the London performers. The solo parts of these new pieces were admirably sung by Mrs. Austin and Miss Jarvis, both natives of Leicester, supported by the Leicester Choral Society, who had been well trained during the previous year. The concerts were attended by most of the nobility of this and the neighbouring counties, and not less than seven hundred persons were conveniently seated. The pleasure experienced by every one was in some degree impaired by the deplorable state of health of Kiesewetter, who was engaged to supply the place of De Beriot, then called to the court of the Netherlands. It was considered by his friends impossible for him to play his concerto ; however, so determined was he to make the effort, that dissuasion was of no avail. He made the attempt to play both evenings, being supported into the orchestra and placed in a chair by his brother professors, but in such an evident state of debility that many persons apprehended that he would expire in the room. Such a spectacle, it may be readily imagined, had a very painful effect upon the audience, who, on both occasions, with one voice, entreated that he would not play. He persisted, however; and, though the withering hand of death had touched him, he had yet enough of energy remaining to exhibit a glimmering light of his taste and execution ; but his force and power were gone. This was Kiesewetter' s last appearance in public, for, although he travelled from Leicester to the Norwich festival, he was too ill to play when he arrived there ; and the committee of management generously paid him the sum stipulated by his engagement, and dispensed with his services. << less