She began composing at the age of ten but her parents objected to her study of music.
[1] She married banker and steel merchant John Austin Stevens Heckscher in 1883 and had four children.
[2] After her marriage, Heckscher studied composition with Henry Albert Lang and orchestration with Wasili Leps in Philadelphia, and later continued her studies in Europe.
[3] In 1913 Heckscher gave a concert of her own compositions in New York City at the Aeolian Hall.
She was active in and served as president of the Philadelphia Operatic Society for a number of years.