[1] Emil Johann Oberhoffer was born near Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria on 10 August 1867[2] to a musical family, his father being a well known organist, composer and provincial conductor, and his mother and siblings also making their marks.

He showed early promise on the organ and violin, and was sent for training with the Josef Rheinberger disciple Cyrill Kistler, and later to Paris for intensive piano study with Isidor Philipp.

[2][3] He emigrated to New York City in 1885, became an American citizen in 1893,[citation needed] and moved to St. Paul, Minnesota in 1897 as a teacher, lecturer, concert performer and conductor.

[2][3][7] He was personally very active and energetic, and instigated a practice of touring the orchestra widely, making it better known than most of its metropolis-bound counterparts.

[10] His compositions include: Hora Novissima (a vocal scene about the last hours of a dying child at whose side his mother waits while a bell tolls),[11] and Mélodie élégiaque, dedicated to the French violinist Camilla Urso.