Feuermann was born in 1902 in Kolomyja, Galicia, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Kolomyia, Ukraine) to Jewish parents.

His older brother Sigmund was also musically talented, and their little sister, Sophie (born January 1908) was the piano prodigy in the family.

In February 1914, the eleven-year-old prodigy made his concert debut, playing Joseph Haydn's Cello Concerto in D major with the Vienna Philharmonic under Felix Weingartner.

[citation needed] He was also appointed principal cellist of the Gürzenich Orchestra, by its conductor (who was also the conservatory director), Hermann Abendroth.

On April 3, 1933, the newly installed Nazi regime dismissed him from his position at the Berlin Conservatory due to his Jewish heritage.

He toured Japan and the United States then returned to London, where he married Eva Reifenberg (a cousin of Katja Andy) in 1935, with whom he had a daughter, Monica.

Among his notable pupils were Bernard Greenhouse, Suzette Forgues Halasz, Florence Hooton, Robert Lamarchina, Alan Shulman, David Soyer and August Wenzinger.

[2] Klengel wrote of Feuermann, "Of all those who have been entrusted to my guardianship, there has never been such a talent...our divinely favoured artist and lovable young man.

[6] After a 1938 Proms performance in London, critic Reid Steward of The Strad wrote "I do not think there can any longer be doubt that Feuermann is the greatest living cellist, Casals alone excepted..."[7] The honorary pallbearers at his funeral included some of the greatest musicians of the time: pianists Rudolf Serkin and Artur Schnabel, violinists Mischa Elman and Bronisław Huberman, and conductors George Szell, Eugene Ormandy and Arturo Toscanini.