Introduction

Biography

Olof was the son of Erich Olofs­son and An­na Jons­dot­ter.

He be­came an as­sist­ant clerk at the War Col­lege in 1780, an ac­count­ant in 1794, war com­mis­sion­er in 1802, and war coun­cil­or and mem­ber of the War Col­lege’s Ci­vil De­part­ment, in 1805. He re­tired from state ser­vice in 1824.

He was one of the first stu­dents at the Acad­emy of Mu­sic, and stu­died there un­der Fer­di­nand Zell­bell the Young­er.

He played the or­gan at Stockholm’s Ma­ria Mag­da­le­na Church (1776–92) , and at St. James’ Church (1792–1835), where he be­came in­creas­ing­ly ap­pre­ci­at­ed both as a vir­tu­oso and as an im­pro­vis­er on the or­gan.

Åhlström was al­so a pi­an­ist and com­pos­er, and launched a mu­sic print­ing and pub­lish­ing bu­si­ness in 1783.

He was elect­ed to the Roy­al Swed­ish Mu­sic Aca­de­my in 1785, and was the Aca­de­my’s di­rect­or of edu­ca­tion, 1803–05.

Works

Åhlström com­posed more than 200 songs, plus cham­ber mu­sic, pi­ano piec­es, and in­ci­den­tal, church, and ce­re­mo­ni­al mu­sic.