His family originally came from Spain. Edouard learned to play the piano and violin at the Lille Conservatory, but his parents did not want him to take music as a profession. So he left home when he was 16 and went to Paris. He took some lessons and earned money by teaching and playing the violin. He liked chamber music. Not many people in France were interested in chamber music at that time. With three friends he formed a string quartet and they helped to make the string quartets of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven better known in France. He played the viola in his quartet, and later he played second violin. In 1859 he composed a string quartet.