He is best known for his writings on composer Franz Liszt, including a highly thought of biography Ein Lebensbild (1898).
Born in New York City to German immigrants to the United States, Reuss lived most of his life in Germany.
He was also a student of Marie Gabriel Augustin Savard in Paris in 1876–1877.
He then traveled to the United States with his wife, the dramatic soprano Luise Reuss-Belce, whom he had married earlier in 1885.
The couple toured together through the US with Eduard accompanying his wife on the piano in a series of concerts in 1902–1903.