Joseph-Édouard Risler (23 February 1873 – 22 July 1929) was a French

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

Biography

Risler was born in

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the states of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos (river), Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the ...

(Germany) of a German mother and an Alsatian father. He studied under

Louis Diémer Louis Joseph Diémer (14 February 1843 – 21 December 1919) was a French pianist and composer. He was the founder of the Société des Instruments Anciens in the 1890s, and also gave recitals on the harpsichord. His output as a composer was exten ...

Théodore Dubois Clément François Théodore Dubois (; 24 August 1837 – 11 June 1924) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer, organist, and music teacher. After study at the Paris Conservatoire, Dubois won France's premier musical prize, the Prix de Ro ...

and

Émile Decombes Émile Decombes (9 August 18295 May 1912) (also seen as Descombes) was a French pianist and teacher. Decombes was born in Nîmes. Little is known about his life other than that he was one of the last pupils of Frédéric Chopin in Paris. He taugh ...

at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...

from 1883 to 1890. He was recorded by Theo Wangemann at the 1889 Paris Expo, one of the first musical recordings. In 1891 he became a good friend of

Emmanuel Chabrier Alexis-Emmanuel Chabrier (; 18 January 184113 September 1894) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer and pianist. His Bourgeoisie, bourgeois family did not approve of a musical career for him, and he studied law in Paris and then worked ...

and visited and corresponded with the older composer. He then completed his studies in Germany with Klindworth, d'Albert and Stavenhagen. He was the

répétiteur A (; from the French verb meaning 'to repeat, to go over, to learn, to rehearse') is an accompanist, tutor or coach of ballet dancers or opera singers. The feminine form is . Opera In opera, a is the person responsible for coaching singers ...

at the Festpielhaus,

Bayreuth Bayreuth ( or ; High Franconian German, Upper Franconian: Bareid, ) is a Town#Germany, town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtel Mountains. The town's roots date back to 11 ...

in 1896. He soon made a mark on the music world as one of the important French pianists of his time, open to the music of his time as well as the romantic German repertoire. He gave several major cycles: the 32 sonatas of

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

from October to December 1905, at the

Salle Pleyel The Salle Pleyel (, meaning "Pleyel Hall") is a concert hall in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, designed by the acoustician Gustave Lyon together with the architect Jacques Marcel Auburtin, who died in 1926, and the work was completed i ...

, the complete works of

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period who wrote primarily for Piano solo, solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown ...

and ''

The Well-Tempered Clavier ''The Well-Tempered Clavier'', BWV 846–893, consists of two sets of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach. In the composer's time ''clavier'' referred to a variety of keyboard instruments, ...

'' of

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

. From 1906, Risler devoted much time to teaching and became professor at the Paris Conservatoire in 1923. He married Émilie Girette, an amateur singer for whom

Gabriel Fauré Gabriel Urbain Fauré (12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers. ...

had written several of his songs. He corresponded regularly with

Reynaldo Hahn Reynaldo Hahn de Echenagucia (9 August 1874 – 28 January 1947) was a Venezuelan-born French composer, conductor, music critic, and singer. He is best known for his songs – ''mélodies'' – of which he wrote more than 100. Hahn was born ...

and played in the première of the Sonatine in C major of Hahn in April 1908, at the Salle Érard. He died in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 1929.

dedicated his ''

Bourrée fantasque "Bourrée fantasque" is a piece of music for solo piano by Emmanuel Chabrier (1841–1894), being one of his last major completed works. Background "Bourrée fantasque" is dedicated to the pianist Édouard Risler (1873–1929), who in fact ...

'' to him,Risler made an arrangement of the piece for two pianos, four hands, premiered by him and Cortot on 11 May 1911. and

Enrique Granados Pantaleón Enrique Joaquín Granados Campiña (27 July 1867 – 24 March 1916), commonly known as Enrique Granados in Spanish or ''Enric Granados'' in Catalan, was a Spanish composer of classical music, and concert pianist from Cat ...

the ''Coloquio en la reja'', extract of '' Goyescas''. Risler made a piano transcription of

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; ; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his Tone poems (Strauss), tone poems and List of operas by Richard Strauss, operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Roman ...

's ''

Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...

''.A live recording by Francesco Libetta, given on 26 July 2002 at the International Piano Festival de La Roque-d'Anthéron, was issued on VAI DVD 4375.

Premieres given by Risler

Risler premiered the following works: *

Ernest Chausson Amédée-Ernest Chausson (; 20 January 1855 – 10 June 1899) was a French Romantic composer. Life Born in Paris into an affluent bourgeois family, Chausson was the sole surviving child of a building contractor who made his fortune assisting Ba ...

: ''Quelques danses'' (1897) *

: ''Ronde champêtre'', ''Ballabile'', ''Feuillet d'album'' (3 April 1897) *

Paul Dukas Paul Abraham Dukas ( 1 October 1865 – 17 May 1935) was a French composer, critic, scholar and teacher. A studious man of retiring personality, he was intensely self-critical, having abandoned and destroyed many of his compositions. His best-k ...

: ''Sonate in E flat minor'' (Salle Pleyel, 10 May 1901) * Dukas: ''Variations, interlude et finale sur un thème de Rameau'' (23 May 1903) * Georges Enesco: ''Variations pour 2 pianos'' (with

Alfred Cortot Alfred Denis Cortot ( , ; 26 September 187715 June 1962) was a French pianist, conductor, and teacher who was one of the most renowned classical musicians of the 20th century. A pianist of massive repertory, he was especially valued for his po ...

) *

: ''

Dolly (Fauré) The ''Dolly Suite'', Op. 56, is a collection of pieces for piano duet by Gabriel Fauré. It consists of six short pieces written or revised between 1893 and 1896, to mark the birthdays and other events in the life of the daughter of the compos ...

'' (with Alfred Cortot; 1898); Impromptu No. 4 (1907); Barcarolles Nos. 6 and 8 (the latter 1907) *

Albéric Magnard Lucien Denis Gabriel Albéric Magnard (; 9 June 1865 – 3 September 1914) was a French composer, somewhat influenced by César Franck and Vincent d'Indy. Magnard became a national hero in 1914 when he refused to surrender his property to German ...

: ''Promenades'' (Concerts Durand 1911).

Discography of Risler

Risler's recordings consist of only 18 sides produced in 1917 by Pathé, which were released in full b
Marston Records
in 2007 as "Édouard Risler: Pathé Paper-Label Discs, Paris 1917". They were also released in full by the Symposium label in 2002 and (at least in the most part) by The Piano Library in 1999. *

** Sonata in A, Op. 26: Finale - Allegro ** Sonata in E, Op. 31, No. 3: Second Movement - Scherzo ** Concerto No. 4 in G, Op. 58: Second Movement - Andante con moto (solo piano transcription by Risler) *

** Idylle (No. 6 from Pièces pittoresques) *

** Etude in G, Op. 10, No. 5 ** Nocturne in F, Op. 15, No. 2 ** Mazurka in A minor, Op. 17, No. 4 ** Waltz in C minor, Op. 64, No. 2 *

François Couperin François Couperin (; 10 November 1668 – 11 September 1733) was a French Baroque music, Baroque composer, organist and harpsichordist. He was known as ''Couperin le Grand'' ("Couperin the Great") to distinguish him from other members of the musi ...

** Le tic-toc-choc, ou Les maillotins * Louis-Claude Daquin ** Le coucou *

Benjamin Godard Benjamin Louis Paul Godard (18 August 184910 January 1895) was a French violinist and Romantic-era composer of Jewish extraction, best known for his opera '' Jocelyn''. Godard composed eight operas, five symphonies, two piano and two violin conce ...

** Deuxième Mazurka, Op. 54 *

** Spanish Dance No. 10 in G *

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...

** Hungarian Rhapsody No. 11 in A minor *

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions inc ...

** Scherzo in E minor, Op. 16, No. 2 *

Jean-Philippe Rameau Jean-Philippe Rameau (; ; – ) was a French composer and music theory, music theorist. Regarded as one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century, he replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of ...

** Le rappel des oiseaux ** Le tambourin *

Camille Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (, , 9October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano ...

** Valse nonchalante in D, Op. 110 *

Carl Maria von Weber Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (5 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist, guitarist, and Music criticism, critic in the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Best known for List of operas by Carl Maria von Weber, h ...

** Invitation to the Dance, Op. 65

Notes and references

Notes References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Risler, Edouard 1873 births 1929 deaths Conservatoire de Paris alumni 20th-century French male classical pianists 20th-century French classical pianists 19th-century French male classical pianists 19th-century French classical pianists People from Baden-Baden