# Round Two:La fleur que tu m'avais jetee. Oehmann, Gigli, Corelli



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)




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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Easy peasy -- and he's not even the right one with his lousy French, but that last "je t'aime" got me right in the heart.
Franco wins the gold.
I really need my Carmen to be sung in French. To me it makes all the difference in the world. 
(What? No Alagna???)


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

nina foresti said:


> Easy peasy -- and he's not even the right one with his lousy French, but that last "je t'aime" got me right in the heart.
> Franco wins the gold.
> I really need my Carmen to be sung in French. To me it makes all the difference in the world.
> (What? No Alagna???)


Patience is a virtue


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

He of the Incipient Sob, Ben Lily, doesn't gild the lily too awfully much here and presents a sweet, innocent, 90-pound Jose that Carmen could finish off in about three bites. I do mind the Italian a little in a way that I didn't listening to Cortis, and that's probably because Gigli sounds so Italian altogether. His performance is very nice for what it is. Corelli sounds Italian too, of course, especially when he's singing in French or something akin to it. His Jose is a big boy, maybe 180 pounds, and that makes his more-than-incipient lacrymosity a little unbecoming but forgivable. Of Corelli's forays into French opera, Jose might be his most successful.

That leaves Oehmann, the teacher of Nicolai Gedda and Martti Talvela. Of the performances of this I know, this one is peculiarly touching and thoughtful - thoughtful in the sense that the singer has obviously thought about the music, but with the result that Jose seems to be singing out unselfconsciously his thoughts as they occur to him. It has the quality of a confession, the spontaneous confession of a man surprised and disarmed by a passion he doesn't understand, such that we can see how he would fall apart at the end and murder the object of his desire. A special performance which, despite the virtues of the others, takes my vote.


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## Shaughnessy (Dec 31, 2020)

*Carl Martin Öhman (Oehman) (Tenor) (Floda, Sweden September 4, 1887 - Stockholm, Sweden December 9, 1967)*







Oehman, Carl Martin


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Carl Martin Öhman (Oehman) (Tenor) (Floda, Sweden September 4, 1887 - Stockholm, Sweden December 9, 1967)


Stolzing He was the son of a Lutheran priest. In 1907, ...




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Carl Martin Oehman Autograph Signed Photograph


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Corelli, of course!


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

3. Corelli -- Very good, I like him in this role. He's virile and exciting, though not particularly moving. He has some dynamics, but not much, and his voice is very consistently bright.
2. Gigli -- Gigli is very good too, with a bit more variety than Corelli. 
1. Oehmann - But the real show here, imo, is Oehmann. He's got it all: loud, soft, bright, dark, passionate, sensitive, brooding, angry, poetic. I've heard this aria a million times, but somehow when I listen to Oehmann sing it it's new every time. There's a real progression to his performance: he starts off soft, almost reverential, and works himself up into a passion. His performance seems totally real at every moment. The voice, technically utterly refined, responds perfectly and immediately to every impulse. A paradigmatic example of how good technique enables expression that would otherwise be impossible.

I listened to the other recordings and enjoyed them, but I've listened to Oehmann three times in a row now and I still want to hear him again.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

vivalagentenuova said:


> 3. Corelli -- Very good, I like him in this role. He's virile and exciting, though not particularly moving. He has some dynamics, but not much, and his voice is very consistently bright.
> 2. Gigli -- Gigli is very good too, with a bit more variety than Corelli.
> 1. Oehmann - But the real show here, imo, is Oehmann. He's got it all: loud, soft, bright, dark, passionate, sensitive, brooding, angry, poetic. I've heard this aria a million times, but somehow when I listen to Oehmann sing it it's new every time. There's a real progression to his performance: he starts off soft, almost reverential, and works himself up into a passion. His performance seems totally real at every moment. The voice, technically utterly refined, responds perfectly and immediately to every impulse. A paradigmatic example of how good technique enables expression that would otherwise be impossible.
> 
> I listened to the other recordings and enjoyed them, but I've listened to Oehmann three times in a row now and I still want to hear him again.


Thanks for the recommendation to use him and for your critique!


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Both Gigli and Corelli sing it better than I expected, with fewer of those lacrymose sobs I usually get from them. Corelli's French isn't as bad here as it often was (I can't listen to either his Roméo or Faust), but I don't get anything specific to the music or the character of José from either of them. These are two splendid tenors singing a sad aria, but that's about it. Corelli's bawled top Bb annoyed me a bit too. Bizet asks for it to be sung pianissimo, but, if you can't do that, then at least try a nice _mezza voce_.

Oehmann is in a different category altogether. There is something so wonderfully personal, so beautifully poetic about his singing. Though he has obviously thought about every note, every word, there is absolutely nothing studied about his interpretation. You feel the music comes newly minted from hs lips. His is the ony version I wanted to go back to and listen again. I don't think I've ever heard it sung so well.


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## Shaughnessy (Dec 31, 2020)

It's cued right at the beginning of the most entertaining part of the interview (which is in French with English subtitles) and Mrs. Correlli is there playing her usual role - éminence grise - and she's described thus - "this rather charming person with an explosive temperament" - "She reacted vehemently to every question" - "Franco, Franco, you have to say - " - and then, apparently, Mr. and Mrs. Corelli started arguing furiously "with machine-gun like" rapidity with one another - "an extremely rapid Italian language shoot-out"...

The interviewer then claims that Franco was "quite calm under the storm and seemed to be thinking" - And then, in a gesture that he would most definitely come to regret, he bangs down on the table with both fists - "a sudden punch on the table" - "No, no, no!," he said to his wife - "You don't understand anything! - You know nothing! - Nothing!" - and then, with a streak of self-destructiveness that is about as close to being a death wish as you can possibly get without really trying, he tells his wife - "Be quiet!" - and then turns away from her and begins the interview...

There must have been so much smoke coming out of Mrs. Corelli's ears that it's a wonder it didn't set off the fire alarms...










Anyone who thinks that Franco didn't live to regret his words for every single second of every single minute of every single hour of every single day of every single week of every single month of every single year of his life has obviously never dated an Italian woman... I can just imagine her reaction -

"Franco, se mai mi parli di nuovo così davanti a qualcuno - soprattutto una puttana francese con i capelli biondi e le tette davvero grosse - ti taglio le palle... No, aspetta, non te le taglio - io ti strapperò le palle - a mani nude - e te le mostrerò e te le dirò - Guarda bene le tue palle, Farinelli, non le vedrai mai più - Mi capisci, Franco?"


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## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

I found some her recordings on youtube, she sang well. She rolled up her carrier, which could be more interesting, after they had moved to Milan. Probably, she took the decision, because she understood that there were plenty of other pebbles on the beach, at least in La Scala. 
Her recordings are provided by Corelli foundation. They present them as heavenly blessed union. 
Well, maybe he needed such a hell-cat to work effectively. Or his veristic shouts were really cries for help.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

I started off really hating Oehmann, but then I got used to his tone and this isn't a bad version. There's something soulful about his singing and he is a very poetic Jose. This could win.

Gigli is more my idea of Jose and his voice is firmer than Oehmann's and doesn't wander slightly away from the tone. I prefer this more virile Jose. Oehmann is in love with Carmen, but I can't see him giving up his life and running away with her, he'd just go back to the barracks and write a poem about her. Gigli is the real deal and I don't mind the Italian.

Corelli is one of my favourites, but not necessarily in this role. He is probably somewhat too expressive and demonstrative here, but it works and by the end I was convinced. Oehmann undersang, Gigli oversang and Corelli gets it just right.

N.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Shaughnessy said:


> It's cued right at the beginning of the most entertaining part of the interview (which is in French with English subtitles) and Mrs. Correlli is there playing her usual role - éminence grise - and she's described thus - "this rather charming person with an explosive temperament" - "She reacted vehemently to every question" - "Franco, Franco, you have to say - " - and then, apparently, Mr. and Mrs. Corelli started arguing furiously "with machine-gun like" rapidity with one another - "an extremely rapid Italian language shoot-out"...
> 
> The interviewer then claims that Franco was "quite calm under the storm and seemed to be thinking" - And then, in a gesture that he would most definitely come to regret, he bangs down on the table with both fists - "a sudden punch on the table" - "No, no, no!," he said to his wife - "You don't understand anything! - You know nothing! - Nothing!" - and then, with a streak of self-destructiveness that is about as close to being a death wish as you can possibly get without really trying, he tells his wife - "Be quiet!" - and then turns away from her and begins the interview...
> 
> ...


In the interests of fairness someone needs to take poor Mrs Corelli's side once in a while and Shaughnessy you've obviously never dated an Italian man. They need keeping in line!

N.


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