Eduard Emil Koch (30 January 1809 – 27 April 1871) was a German pastor and hymnologist.

Koch was born at Solitude Palace, the son of the staff doctor Friedrich Koch and his wife Margarethe Koch, née Sigrist.^[1] He completed the Eberhard-Ludwigs-Gymnasium and then the seminary in Urach in Stuttgart, before he went to Tübingen from 1826 to 1830 where he studied theology. During that period, he became a member of the Burschenschaft Germania Tübingen [de] in 1826. He was regarded as one of the most active and quickest members of his fraternity and was therefore imprisoned several times at Schloss Hohentübingen [de].^[1]

In 1830, he became vicar in Ehningen, in 1837 pastor in Großaspach,^[1] where he married Marie Auguste Speidel. The couple had two children. He became pastor in Heilbronn in 1847, promoted further from third pastor to head pastor and dean.^[1] His career took a turn when he tried to prevent the performance of Haydn's oratorio The Creation in a church of the Heilbronn deanery. Although the parish council followed his view that such an event was not suitable for a church, the consistory overturned the decision. In protest, Koch applied to be moved to the parish of the village Erdmannhausen. He died of smallpox on a trip to Stuttgart at the age of 62, where he wanted to obtain his complete removal from office.^[1] His tomb in the Hoppenlaufriedhof [de] has been preserved.

In 1847, Koch published the Geschichte des Kirchenlieds und Kirchengesangs, a history of singing hymns in church, of which several new editions were later published.^[1]

• Geschichte des Kirchenlieds und Kirchengesangs.
  • 1st Edition, Mit besonderer Rücksicht auf Würtemberg:
    • Part 1: Die Dichter und Sänger. Druck und Verlag der Chr. Belser'schen Buchhandlung, Stuttgart 1847 (Digital link by the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek).
    • Part 2: Die Lieder und Weisen. Belser, Stuttgart 1847 (Digital link).
  • 2nd Edition:
    • First main part: Die Dichter und Sänger. Vol. 1. Belser, Stuttgart 1852 (Digital link).
    • First main part: Die Dichter und Sänger. Vol. 2. Belser, Stuttgart 1852 (Digital link).
    • First main part: Die Dichter und Sänger. Vol. 3. Belser, Stuttgart 1853 (Digital link).
    • Second main part: Die Lieder und Weisen. Vol. 4. Belser, Stuttgart 1853 (Digital link).
  • 3rd Edition:
    • First main part: Die Dichter und Sänger. Vol. 1. Belser, Stuttgart 1866 (Digital link).
    • First main part: Die Dichter und Sänger. Vol. 2. Belser, Stuttgart 1867 (Digital link).
    • First main part: Die Dichter und Sänger. Vol. 3. Belser, Stuttgart 1867 (Digital link).
    • First main part: Die Dichter und Sänger. Vol. 4. Belser, Stuttgart 1868 (Digital link).
    • First main part: Die Dichter und Sänger. Vol. 5. Belser, Stuttgart 1868 (Digital link).
    • First main part: Die Dichter und Sänger. Vol. 6. Belser, Stuttgart 1869 (Digital link).
    • First main part: Die Dichter und Sänger. Vol. 7. Edited by Adolf Wilhelm Koch after the death of the author. Belser, Stuttgart 1872 (Digital link).
    • Second main part: Die Lieder und Weisen. Vol. 8. Newly edited by Richard Lauxmann. Belser, Stuttgart 1876 (Digital link).

• Carl Bertheau (1882), "Koch, Eduard Emil", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 16, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 373–375

• Udo Dickenberger, Waltraud and Friedrich Pfäfflin: Der Stuttgarter Hoppenlau-Friedhof als literarisches Denkmal. Marbach am Neckar 1992, ISBN 3-928882-34-1, p. 252.
• Eberhard Hauschildt: Koch, Eduard Emil. In Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). BVol.4, Bautz, Herzberg 1992, ISBN 3-88309-038-7, Sp. 206–207.
• Helge Dvorak: Biographisches Lexikon der Deutschen Burschenschaft. vol. I: Politiker. Part 3: I–L. Winter, Heidelberg 1999, ISBN 3-8253-0865-0, p. 119.

• Literature by and about Eduard Emil Koch in the German National Library catalogue