Dessoff studied voice with Gustav Gunz and Marie Schröder-Hanfstängl (1892–97) at Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium in Frankfurt and from 1912 directed the women's chorus there.

Dessoff's singing career was cut short when a famous opera singer (probably Hanfstängl) teaching at Dr. Hoch's apparently ruined her voice.

She regained it through private lessons (with Jenny Hahn, a pupil of Julius Stockhausen), but had she not lost her voice she might never have become a well-known and well-loved choral director.

As a boy, Mr. Warburg came to know Margarete Dessoff from visits to his uncle's house, and it was this friendship which moved him to bring her to America for a holiday following the strain of the First World War.

Her artistically planned programs encouraged contemporary composers such as Hans Gál, Erwin Lendvai, Hugo Herrmann, Marion Bauer, Lazare Saminsky and others to write new music for choirs.