Köhler studied music education and English at the Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg . First he worked as an assistant at the University of Greifswald . In 1963 he moved to the University of Leipzig . He worked mainly in the field of artistic practice. In 1979 he received a lectureship and in 1992 he was appointed Professor of Music Education in Leipzig. In 1999 he retired.
As a Leipzig Schumann researcher, he published the 30-volume Urtext edition of Robert Schumann's piano works at Edition Peters. In addition to numerous articles on aesthetic and biographical aspects of Robert and Clara Schumann , he has published two monographs on Schumann's:
Everyday life and art - The Schumanns' domicile on Leipziger Inselstrasse, Altenburg, 2004 (Kamprad Verlag)
Robert and Clara Schumann - A Arch of Life, Altenburg 2006 (Kamprad Verlag)
