The authorship of the song was uncertain for some time, being ascribed to various people, including Nikolay Gumilyov and Ivan Bunin.

[1] A popular belief attributed it to Russian Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak[1][2] until the 1847 sheet music was found in archives.

[1] According to Russian romance researcher Yelena Ukolova, the song was created amid celebrations of the 700th anniversary of Moscow in January 1847.

[1] The music was composed by Pyotr Bulakhov (Петр Булахов), and the lyrics written by student Vladimir Chuyevsky (Владимир Чуевский).

But, according to Ukolova, it was the 1956 American film War and Peace that made it possible for this romance to make a true comeback in USSR.

Звезда любви приветная, Ты у меня одна заветная, Другой не будет никогда.