Hackett was one of the first American singers to make it on the international scene with triumphs at the Metropolitan, the Colon in Buenos Aires, various cities in Italy, the Paris Opera and Covent Garden. He appeared in a wide variety of roles from Mozart to Wagner during the second and third decades of the century. Although he seems to have been compared to Bonci, the obvious likeness is with McCormack so I wasn’t surprised to read in the accompanying note that he had Irish forebears. As with McCormack, his style is impeccable – the long run in ‘Il mio tesoro’ taken in one breath, Des Grieux’s Dream phrased exquisitely. Altogether his French seems excellent, making Romeo’s declaration of love a special pleasure. Although we tend to hear heavier voices in this repertory, the advantage of such bright, clear singing, such flexibility, is not to be denied, but his lightish tone seems a shade inadequate for Rodolfo, especially when set beside Stracciari’s Marcello in the Act 4 duet.
The majority of Hackett’s discs were cut for American Columbia, but his account of Faust’s cavatine, sung in the vernacular, was made for English Columbia when he was in London for Melba’s Farewell in 1926. This electric disc gives us a fuller flavour of the timbre of Hackett’s voice, but the quick tempo, the downward transposition (a full tone) and Hackett’s very odd English add up to no more than a curiosity. In the song recordings, I usually miss the charm, the subtleties of phrasing of McCormack, Nash or Webster Booth, but ‘Ah, moon of my delight’ is a delight indeed in its refined, old-fashioned way.'