The musical intertext signs in the novel «Russian Forest» by L. Leonov
(«Serenade» of G. Braga in the novel by L. Leonov and in the story «The Black Monk»
by A. Chekhov)

The paper clarifies the functions of indicating the works of musical art in the novel «Russian Forest» (1953) by L. Leonov. The attention is directed to musical ekphrasis and to the associative background, appearing at the mention of a musical work and important for the introduction of philosophical semantics of the figurative world of the novel. Analysis is made of the narrative function of mentioning the «Serenade» of Braga and of the reference to this piece of music to indicate Leonov\’s dialogue with works in which there are other interpretations of the serenade (in Chekhov\’s story «The Black Monk», 1893), which makes it possible to express the author\’s interpretation of the existential problem of man\’s self-realization in the world.