The article is the first attempt in Russian musicology to examine one of the most famous works of the Hungarian virtuoso clarinetist Béla Kovács “Dedications” from the position of intertextual approach. The peculiarities of the composer’s work with an “foreign” text are revealed, primary sources are identified, and the forms of their integration into the sound fabric of the nine concert etudes for solo clarinet are considered and systematized. Avoiding quotations from the works of the addressees of the dedications, B.Kovács adheres to the leading role of allusion and stylization. The preferred principle of work for the composer is “the principle of working according to a model” (I.C. Stognyi). The Hungarian composer demonstrates flexibility in switching from one language to another, applies a playful logic in the arrangement of the material, and displays a quality of irony. As a result of these features, connections of “own” and “foreign” are revealed: semantic, semiotic, genre, structural end figurative. The conscious use of recognizable segments of borrowed compositions acts as an important means of communication with the listener. The organic inclusion of the reflected vocabulary and the depth of the figurative and emotional content of the dedications allow us to consider them not only through the prism of the concert clarinet repertoire, but also as an original phenomenon in the intertextual musical space of the late 20th century.