Arne Oldberg was born in Youngstown, Ohio on July 12, 1874.Oldberg, Arne in Who's Who in America (1901-1902 edition), p. 844; via archive.org He began studying the piano at an early age, initially under the tutelage of his father, Oscar, a Swedish pharmaceutical chemist and amateur musician, and later at the Chicago Musical College under August Hyllested (1888–1892).Beth E. Levy, "Oldberg, Arne," Grove Music Online (accessed May 5, 2020). He also studied composition and orchestration with Alolph Koelling, Frederick Grant Gleason, and Wilhelm Middelschulte."Arne Oldberg." The Musical Monitor, Vol. 4 (1914), p. 200. In 1893, Oldberg traveled to Vienna to study piano with Theodor Leschetizky. He returned to the U.S. in 1895, and, in 1897, Oldberg joined the music faculty of Northwestern University. In 1898, he returned to Europe for one year to study composition with Josef Rheinberger at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich. Upon his return to the states in 1899, Oldberg accepted an instructorship on the faculty of Northwestern's School of Music. He married Mary Sloan in 1900.
