Feuermann's parents were amateur musicians. His father started to teach him the violin, but the young boy wanted to hold it between his legs like a cello, so his father bought him a small cello. In 1909 the family moved to Vienna so that he could learn the cello from the famous Friedrich Buxbaum, the cellist of the Rosé Quartet and principal cellist of the Vienna Philharmonic. Then he studied with Anton Walter at the Music Academy in Vienna. In February 1914, aged twelve, he played in his first concert, performing Joseph Haydn's Cello Concerto in D with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Felix Weingartner. 