Oskar Adler

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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 His principal books were Critique of Pure Music (1918, still unpublished), and The Testament of Astrology (published in 3 volumes 1935-37, many subsequent editions).