The study aims to develop the idea that the first Russian comic operas, “The Miller Who Was a Wizard, a Cheat and a Matchmaker” by A. Ablesimov and M. Sokolovsky in particular, exhibit some features of the French influence. Scientific novelty of the study lies in taking a new analytical approach to the musical language of “The Miller”, which is considered in comparison with the French musical comedy of the XVIII century, at first called ‘la comédie mêlée d’ariette’ in France and later known as ‘l’opéra-comique’. As indicated by the results of the study, the impact that this comedy had on the opera genre that was emerging in Russia was more profound than previously thought: the model of the comic opera was used as the initial basis by the creators of the first Russian operas.