29
MUSICAL COURIER
F c b ruary 1 , 1923
CHARLES HACKETT
Now
Singing at
Teatro Liceo, Barcelona
Spring 1923
at
Teatro Royale, Madrid
Opera, Monte Carlo
Grand Opera, Paris
Photo by George Maillard Kesslere, B.P.
T rans-
Continental
American
Concert
Tour,
November
־1922
January
1923
Extraordinary Notices from Salt Lake City Recital, November 22, 1922
SALT LAKE CITY TELEGRAM
Words fail to describe Charles Hackett, American tenor; for the quality and supreme beauty of his silver tongue—lyric yet robust, sympathetic yet sublime, sensational yet wonderful—make a thing of beauty and a joy to the ear. It is no wonder that America is conquering the field of opera as she has everything else she has gone into, when such a master at the helm takes the lead. Charles Hackett came and, in his own pleasing way, without bluffery or front, swept his audience from their seats as a blizzard does the chaff. It has been said that no artist was ever great enough to make a genuine success in both opera and concert. Easy to refute, this. The answer is Charles Hackett. To borrow the words of an Eastern critic, “He is truly in a class by himself.”
His program ranged from the simplest classics and ballads to the heights of Meyerbeer’s “Paradiso” (from "L’Africana”), and rarely have Salt Lakers demanded so much as they did last night at the end of each group of songs. The American tenor responded generously to the thunderous applause with numerous encores. A thing of special note was the ease and clear diction in the English, French and Italian numbers that he rendered. The English was perfect, the French marvelous, and the Italian such as many of their best singers might well envy. Couple these with a voice of symmetrical beauty and flawless grace, if you can imagine such a combination without first hearing him, and you spell the word “Hackett.”
While the program was not a heavy one, it gave the artist a splendid chance to show his remarkable range of voice, and he was recalled and recalled, and was generous with his encores, which is sometimes not the case with great artists.
Until he sang the “Paradiso,” no one had any idea of the volume of Mr. Hackett’s voice, as his previous_ songs were sung soft and sweet, and the manner in which he took the high notes was remarkable and showed his mastery of the art; but in this number he proved what a wonderful voice he pos-esses, and brought forth an instant and prolonged applause.
SALT LAKE CITY DESERT NEWS
Charles Hackett, American singer, with an American name and American ideals, proved last evening to a large audience in the tabernacle that America has no longer need to look to Europe for her truly great artists. And had not Mr. Hackett’s buoyant vigorous vitality pronounced him a decidedly American product to his countrymen, his magnificent reserve of voice with world of power and breath control and ease behind it, would have readily proved him so. He displays an unusual refinement and good taste in his interpretations, never for one minute soaring to the bombastic and yet displaying a remarkable power of voice. He had a well chosen program and for the most part a comparatively new one, with just enough of the more familiar things to delight his auditors. As he gave number after number, his audience could not fail to be impressed with the youth, freshness and vitality of his voice, and with the fact that there was so much back of each note held in reserve. His dramatic ability was displayed in little humorous numbers and especially in his recitative encore. And in each song, French, Italian or English, the diction of the singer was remarkably clear.
Mr. Hackett was most gracious in his encores, rendering four or five and altogether giving his audience the impression that his store of songs and voice was almost inexhaustible.
The visit of Mr. Hackett to this city perhaps marks a new epoch in western music. For years the musical world has given obeisance to European stars, frankly acknowledging the superiority of the old world in producing the greater artists. But last night American music came into her own, for the American “king of tenors,” as he virtually is, proved that America need'no longer look to other nations for a truly great tenor.
Returning to America for Concertsy Season 1923-24
SALT LAKE CITY TRIBUNE
Within the last decade or so Salt Lake music lovers have heard, in concert and opera, many tenors of national and international fame, a number of them being singers of foreign birth. It remained for Charles Hackett, American tenor, at his initial appearance in Salt Lake last night, to set the highest standard of general artistry for all phases of the tenor’s realm in song.
If one prefers the dramatic, Mr. Hackett’s interpretation of “O Paradiso” from “L’Africaine” and his magnificent rendition of Georges’ “Hymn to the Sun” must have satisfied the most exacting. Should the sublimely reverential work of Handel be one’s choice, “When E’er You Walk” was presented with a delicacy of nuance, subtlety of phrasing and sheer beauty of tone that only a consummate, cultured artist could achieve. If the weirdly mystic and suggestive type of composition be the favorite, Koechin’s “L’Hiver” (Winter) was a revelation of power to make tones paint pictures, as was his expression in “An Old Song Resung” (Griffes).
This does not begin to tell the story of Hackett’s versatility, for there are, for example, to be considered the brilliancy in Saint-Saëns’ “Mai” and the retrospective sentiment in Gluck’s “Spiagge Amate,” also the exultation of Watts’ “Joy,” each being handled with an ease and grace that was almost baffling.
Mr. Hackett’s voice is so clear, pure and impeccably placed that it would be a joy to hear him sing simply scales. Such an organ as this, supported and backed by a sensitive soul, a well trained mind and cosmopolitan career, enables the singer to carry his audience, regardless of the language in which the song is given. In passing it is to be noted that Hackett’s diction, accent and intonation, whether he sings in French, Italian or English, are virtually beyond criticism. His command of what might be termed “coloratura” work in a number of the art songs he presented and his skill in pianissimo passages are little less than marvelous. Yet ever, when the occasion demanded, he displayed the power and volume that thrilled, without any shouting or apparent effort.
Manager: CHARLES L. WAGNER D. F. McSweeney, Associate Manager 511 Fifth Avenue, New York