His mother, Klotilda (sometimes Clothilde) Adolfovna, née Tambroni, was of Italian parentage and born in St Petersburg.
Here he studied composition under Sergei Taneyev, Music encyclopedia[clarification needed]under Anton Arensky, and violin under Jan Hřímalý.
At the same time, Conus was encouraged by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to pursue a concertmaster position with the New York Symphony Orchestra.
[1] He met with the orchestra's director, Walter Damrosch in Berlin and secured the roles of concertmaster and first violin.
In this letter, Tchaikovsky applauds Conus's decision to travel to America (along with Adolph_Brodsky, following the invitation from Damrosch to serve as his newest concertmaster for the New York Symphony Orchestra.
Tchaikovsky replies to a recent missive from Conus, detailing his life in America, following a concert in Philadelphia.
He ends the letter inviting Conus to visit him during the summer, noting that "If financial matters are putting you off, contact your most sincere friend (i.e. me), who has now earned a lot of capital from his operas, and will be glad to help you.
A telegram asking Conus to bring his violin on the Wednesday morning train, and leave the next evening.
In this letter Tchaikovsky sends updating viola/violin pieces to Conus asking for review, guidance, and "opinion as soon as possible," on its worth.
[citation needed] Arguably Conus's legacy survives due to the popularity of his Concerto in E minor for violin, completed in 1898 and dedicated to his professor Jan Hřímalý.
[11][12] As a result of the civil unrest following the Russian Revolution, an exodus of the aristocratic intelligentsia erupted, prompting Conus to relocate.
Although Eduard Conus had settled in Russia in the early nineteenth century, he had not renounced his foreign citizenship.
In 1938, while visiting his niece, Olga Alexandrovna Khreptovich-Buteneva, at the Khreptovich family estate[15] in Shchorsy, Poland (now Belarus), Conus was arrested by the Red Army.
Olga would later publish Fracture (1939-1942): Memories, a memoir recounting the exile and persecution of the region and its inhabitants.