Herman Zhukovsky was a Ukrainian and Soviet composer, film composer, and music teacher. He was born on November 13, 1913, in Radivilov, then in the Volhynia Governorate of the Russian Empire. In 1937, he graduated from the Kyiv Conservatory, studying piano with K. N. Mikhailov and composition with Levko Revutsky.
After returning to creative work, Zhukovsky taught first at the Kyiv Music College and later at the conservatory. From 1951 to 1958, he taught counterpoint in the composition department of the Kyiv Conservatory, named for Tchaikovsky. He also wrote music for films, including A Generous Summer, Marina’s Fate, and The Viper.
Zhukovsky’s output included operas, ballets, cantatas, choral works, instrumental pieces, and vocal-symphonic compositions. His operas included Marina, Honor, From the Heart—later revised as First Spring—and One Step to Love. His ballets included Rostislava and Forest Song. His choral and vocal-symphonic works, along with pieces for piano, violin, and instrumental ensembles, entered the repertoire of many performers.
In 1950, he received the State Prize of the USSR for the vocal-symphonic poem Glory to My Homeland! He was named People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR in 1973. Zhukovsky died in Kyiv on May 15, 1976.