Oscar Ahnfelt (May 21, 1813 ? October 22, 1882) was the "Spiritual Troubadour" of 19th-century Sweden.
Ahnfelt composed the music for all of Lina Sandell's hymns. He was a pietist and traveled over Scandinavia singing her hymns, bringing with him a 10-string guitar. The state church authorities did not like pietistic hymns and, anticipating a royal injunction on the singing of Sandell's songs, ordered Ahnfelt to sing them before King Karl XV. But after hearing them, the King announced to Ahnfelt, "You may sing as much as you desire in both my kingdoms" (Norway and Sweden being, at the time, both in the realm of the Swedish monarchy).[citation needed]. Ahnfelt sang them so much that Sandell wrote, 'Ahnfelt has sung my songs into the hearts of the people'[citation needed].
Sandell-Ahnfelt hymns have spread throughout the world (including Lutheran hymnals), two of the most common in English-speaking churches being 'Children of the Heavenly Father' and 'Day by Day and with Each Passing Moment' (the respective first lines in Swedish, and consequently the generic tune names in English, being 'Blott en dag' [literally, just one day] and 'Tryggare kan ingen vara' [safer can no one be]).
Jenny Lind?known worldwide as 'the Swedish Nightingale'?was also a pietist and popularized sandell's hymns in America and wherever she sang. She also financed the first edition of Ahnfelt songs, the lyrics being mostly by Sandell.
Ahnfelt died on October 22, 1882, in Karlshamn, Blekinge, Sweden. He is buried in Hvilans Kyrkogård (Hvilans Cemetery).
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