Review: The subject of this research is youth oeuvre of the prominent Russian composer of the second half of the XX century Boris Tishchenko. The symphony “Crainquebille” was composed in 1958 based on the eponymous acute social story by Anatole France on misadventures of a Parisian greengrocer, a “little man” who was caught up in the wheel of justice. In 1993, the composer renamed the symphony “Crainquebille” into “French”. Special attention is given to symphonic dramaturgy, programmability in music, and interrelation between music and literature. Tishchenko creates a virtuosic concerto for the orchestra within the framework of the classical symphonic cycle, imbues it with the novel compositional techniques, experiments with orchestral colors and timbres, gradually carries the main theme through the entire work, and is apparently fascinated by speech intonation and the word conveyed through the instrumental motif. It is concluded that Tishchenko decided to make virtually no changes to his early symphonic composition; the quality of the material created during his second year at Leningrad Conservatory contributed to emergence of a remarkable and novel symphonic opus written in a modern relevant, orchestrally imbued, rich and bright language. The novelty of this research consists in the fact that this article is the first reference in Russian musicology to the “French” symphony of B. Tishchenko, as well as a comprehensive review. The author reveals its content, analyzes difficulties of performing, and cross-cutting dramaturgy.

Keywords: grotesque, dramaturgy, French, Anatole France, programm music, literature, symphony, Boris Tishchenko, musical theatricality, Leningrad