Edouard Risler was a French pianist, born in Baden-Baden on February 23, 1873. His father was German, and his mother came from Alsace.
He studied at the Paris Conservatory with Émile Decombes, Louis Diémer, and Théodore Dubois, then continued his studies in Germany with Eugen d’Albert and Bernhard Stavenhagen. In 1896, he worked as a répétiteur at the Bayreuth Festival. From 1906, he taught at the Paris Conservatory.
Risler built much of his concert career around large-scale cycles, performing The Well-Tempered Clavier, all of Beethoven’s sonatas, and the complete works of Chopin. He also gave the first performances of important works of his time, including Paul Dukas’s Piano Sonata, pieces by Gabriel Fauré, and George Enescu’s Variations for Two Pianos, performed with Alfred Cortot.
Risler’s only series of recordings was made in 1917. Despite the recordings’ poor technical quality, they were restored and reissued, and document a repertoire ranging from Jean-Philippe Rameau to Enrique Granados. He died in Paris on July 22, 1929.