Oskar Adler

Oskar Adler (1875–1955) was an Austrian violinist, physician and esoteric savant.

A close friend of Arnold Schoenberg from their schooldays, Adler taught him the rudiments of music, gave him his first grounding in philosophy, and played chamber music with him. Though self-taught, Adler for many years led a string quartet whose regular cellist was another composer-friend, Franz Schmidt. Adler also played in Schoenberg’s Society for Private Musical Performances, lectured on music and philosophy, as well as giving musical and spiritual advice to, and casting horoscopes for, many of Vienna’s leading creative artists. He was the teacher of the musician, writer and Schoenberg-expert Hans Keller. After the Anschluss Schoenberg tried to arrange for Adler to come to California, but he escaped instead to the United Kingdom, spending the 1940s in the Lake District and his last years in London. His principal books were Critique of Pure Music (1918, still unpublished), and The Testament of Astrology (published in 3 volumes 1935-37, many subsequent editions).

Dr. Oskar Adler's The Testament of Astrology translated into English by his devoted pupil Zdenka Orenstein and edited by Amy Shapiro M. Ed. is available in e-Book format through the Online College of Astrology. The Testament of Astrology Vol. 1 The Testament of Astrology Vol 2

A biography, by Amy Shapiro M. Ed. includes letters, stories and memoirs gathered across twenty years of discovery, of people who recounted the vital role that Dr. Oskar Adler played in Vienna's pre-Nazi cultural life before 1938 and while in exile. It is available in e-Book version through the Online College of Astrology Dr. Oskar Adler: A Complete Man