Early life thumb|upright|Arnold Schönberg in Payerbach, 1903 Arnold Schoenberg was born into a lower middle-class Jewish family in the Leopoldstadt district (in earlier times a Jewish ghetto) of Vienna, at Obere Donaustraße 5. His father Samuel, a native of Szécsény, Hungary, later moved to Pozsony (Pressburg, at that time part of the Kingdom of Hungary, now Bratislava, Slovakia) and then to Vienna, was a shoe-shopkeeper, and his mother Pauline Schoenberg (née Nachod), a native of Prague, was a piano teacher. Arnold was largely self-taught. He took only counterpoint lessons with the composer Alexander Zemlinsky, who was to become his first brother-in-law.
Early life thumb|upright|Arnold Schönberg in Payerbach 1903 Arnold Schoenberg was born into a lower middle-class Jewish family in the Leopoldstadt district (in earlier times a Jewish ghetto) of Vienna at Obere Donaustraße 5 His father Samuel a native of Szécsény Hungary later moved to Pozsony (Pressburg at that time part of the Kingdom of Hungary now Bratislava Slovakia) and then to Vienna was a shoe-shopkeeper and his mother Pauline Schoenberg (née Nachod) a native of Prague was a piano teacher Arnold was largely self-taught He took only counterpoint lessons with the composer Alexander Zemlinsky who was to become his first brother-in-law