david weber was born in vilna in present-day lithuania and came to the united states in 1921. his family settled in detroit. his parents were not musical, but he liked the sound of clarinet and took it up at the age of 11. while in high school, he studied under roy schmidt and alberto luconi, principal clarinetists of the detroit symphony. in 1933 ossip gabrilowitsch, then conductor of the detroit symphony, was impressed by weber's playing and helped him get a new york philharmonic scholarship. this allowed weber to study without fee in new york with simeon bellison, the new york philharmonic's principal clarinetist. around the same time he also studied with daniel bonade, principal clarinet with the columbia broadcast system symphony.