Robert Heckmann was a German violinist, born in Mannheim on November 3, 1848. He first studied piano with his father, then took up the violin with Jean Becker and Johann Naret-Koning. He also studied composition with Vincenz Lachner. At 14, he began playing in the Mannheim Orchestra. In 1866, he entered the Leipzig Conservatory, where he studied violin with Ferdinand David and harmony and composition with Moritz Hauptmann. He continued his violin studies in Paris in 1869 with Delphin Alard and Hubert Léonard.
He went to Berlin in 1870 and later worked in Leipzig, where he gave the first performance of Johan Svendsen’s Violin Concerto on February 6, 1872. He then settled in Cologne and served as concertmaster of the Gürzenich Orchestra from 1872 to 1875. In 1873, he married pianist Maria Hertwig, with whom he performed as a duo for many years. They gave the first performance of Johannes Brahms’s First Violin Sonata in Bonn on September 8, 1879.
From 1872, Heckmann led a string quartet that gained an international reputation. Edvard Grieg sought his advice while composing his first quartet and dedicated the work to him; Heckmann’s quartet premiered it in Cologne on October 29, 1878, and gave its London premiere in 1885. Heckmann also worked with Friedrich Gernsheim: Gernsheim dedicated his Second String Quartet to him, and Heckmann and the composer first performed Gernsheim’s First Violin Sonata on January 12, 1886. Heckmann gave the first performance of Richard Strauss’s Violin Sonata with Julius Buths in Munich on October 3, 1888. Max Bruch dedicated his Romanze for violin and orchestra to Heckmann in 1874 and consulted him about the solo part; Josef Rheinberger also dedicated his Second String Quartet to him. Heckmann edited Robert Schumann’s string quartets.
He died of influenza in Glasgow on November 29, 1891, during a British tour.