Charles Hackett

American operatic tenor (born November 4, 1889 in Worcester, Massachusetts – died January 1, 1942 in New York, New York). Hackett studied first at the New England Conservatory in Boston with Arthur J. Hubbard, and later with Vincenzo Lombardi in Florence. He made his stage debut in Genova, as Wilhelm Meister in Mignon, in 1914. He sang in Italy and South America before making his debut at the Metropolitan Opera on January 31, 1919, as Almaviva. He appeared there for three seasons, also as Lindoro, Roméo, Il Duca di Mantova, Alfredo, Rodolfo, Pinkerton, Wilhelm Meister, Cavaradossi, Don Ottavio, Vincent and Des Grieux. He also sang at the Lyric Opera of Chicago from 1923 until 1934. He returned to the Metropolitan on February 3, 1934 as Roméo and performed there for another five years. Hackett made more than 100 recordings, a dozen for Edison in 1912 and several dozens for Columbia between 1919 and 1930, notably duets with Maria Barrientos and Rosa Ponselle.