  The effects of correlations on the bulk properties of nuclei are investigated
in large model spaces including up to 21 single-particle orbits. The evaluation
of the single-particle Green function is made feasible by means of the BAGEL
approximation. The spectral function for single-nucleon pick-up and removal is
investigated for the nuclei $^{16}O$ and $^{40}Ca$ . Special attention is paid
to the effects produced by correlations on the calculated ground state
properties of closed shell nuclei. It is observed that correlations beyond the
Brueckner Hartree Fock approximation tend to improve the results obtained using
realistic nucleon nucleon interactions.
