K. was to become a teacher like his father and, after schooling in Treuenbrietzen and Halle, attended the teacher training college in Erfurt from 1831-34, where he was a student of →Johann Immanuel Müller and →Ludwig Ernst Gebhardi, among others. He then worked as a teacher in Merzien near Köthen, Hettstedt and Halle, among other places. Here in 1837 he founded a music lending institution and a year later in Erfurt a book and music publishing company, to which he devoted himself exclusively from 1854 after he had sold the retail and antiquarian bookshop. In accordance with his interests and his education, K. was particularly committed to organ music, trying to give it new impetus and improve musical education.