LASSBERG. 794 LASSO. self to study. At the Castle of Meersburg, on h:ike Constance, he formed a valuable library, after his death incorporated in the library at his birthplace. His collection of nianuscri|)ts is famed as containing the important codex of the Nibe- lunyenlieil. Lassberg edited, under the name Meister f>epp von Kppishusen, Lin svhijn tind uiiiiiutiy llr-lichl, dcr Liltoucr (18'2G), iSiyctiot (1830), E'ggciilied (1832), Ein scliOn alt Lied run IJraie friz I'mi Zolrc (1842), and the col- lection called Liedersaal (1820-25). Consult ISricfiiechsel zwischcn Lasshcrg und Vhland (1870). LAS'SELL, William (1799-1880). An Eng- lish aslionoiiHT. born in Lancashire. He had very little opportunity for schooling, and it was during his mercantile a])prcnticeshi|) at Liverpool that he made his own telescopes, and afterwards he built a private observatory near that city. He not only built and nimuitcd rcllecling telescopes e(|uatorially. uhicli were the first of the kind to be used, but invented an excellent nielhud of polishing the specula. With the telescope of his own construction he observed the satellite of Nep- tune in 1847, the eighth satellite of Saturn in 1848, and in 18.51 discovered two new satellites of Uranus. In 1801 he mounted equatorially a reflecting telescope at Valetta, on the island of Alalia, and remained there four years observing and describing new nebuhv and jK^rfecdng the results of many of his first observations. He returned to England in 1805. and established an observatory near ^Maidenhead, where he remained until his death. LASSEN, las'scn, Chri.sti.x (1800-70). An eminent < German Orientalist. He was born October 22. 1900, at Bergen, Norway: studied at Christiania. and afterwards (1822) at Heidelberg and Bonn, and assisted Sehlegel in the publication of the Raiiiaii'iiia and //I'/u/in- dcsa. He also associated himself with Eug&ne Burnouf in the production of the ICxsni siir Ic I'ali (1820). In 1830 he became extraordinary, and in 1840 full, professor of ancient Indian languages and literature at Bonn. He died at Bonn, May 0, 1870. Lassen edited many Sanskrit works, and published several very important Avorks, the chief of which are: Dir nllpcrsischcn Jieilin/tchriften (183G); VoVslJindigc Zusum- mriisleUunff aUcr his IS'io hekannt fiemachten altpersischen Keitinschriftrii mit Erh-liiriiiifi. em- bodying Westergaard"s investigations (1845): lieitrur/c ziir Gc.schirhfc drr [irirchixrlirn viid indo-xei/lhisrlicn KiJiiigr in Bnrtiirii. Knhiil vtid Indien (1838): Iiisliiiitioiws Liiifiiiw Pracriticcc (1837); Gitarioviiida ■Jayadcra; (1S30): Antho- login (tanscriticu (1838): and ludische Alter- ttimshuiidc. a critical history of Indian civiliza- tion (1847-01, new ed. 1801-74). LASSEN, E»r.Ri> (1S30I904). A German composi'r, born at Copenhagen. His parents movetl to Brussels when he was but an infant, and at ten years of .ige he was registered as a student in the Conservatory of that city, winning all the important prizes as well as the Orand Prix de Rome. He became Court music director at Wei- mar in 1858. and through the innnence of Liszt was enabled to giAC his opera hnndgrnf I.iiduigs Jinnilfiihrt (18.57). He was Court kapellmeister at Weimar from 1801 to 1895. during which time he successfully produced Wagner's Tristan und Isolde ( 1874), besides the following operas of his own: Frauenlob (1800); he captif (1805); and a ballet, Diana. He also wrote music to (Edipus ill Koloniis (1874), to Faust (1870), to Pandora, to Hebbel's ibelungcn, and very many popular songs. LASSERRE, la'silr', Pai L Joseph Henri ue MoxziE- tlS2S-1900). A l-'rench writer on re- ligious subjects, born at Carlu.x. He studied law at I'aris until 1851, and in that year wrote in favor of the coup dV'tat. L'opiiiion ct le coup d'etat. He took uj) the cause of Poland, trav- eled to Rome in hi'r Ijchalf, and helped gain the Pojjc's condemnation of the massacres of War- saw. A few years later he made himself famous by his attack on Renan's I'l'o de Jesus; by his claim that he had been healed at Lourdes, his consequent literary activity in favor of the pilgrimages thither, and his quarrels with Zdia over the question: and by his translation of the tJospels, which, under the title of Saints Evamiilrs (1887), was first hi^dily praised by the Vatican, but later put on the index cx]iurgatorius. His great successes were Sotrc-lkiinc de Lourdes (1803), which has been translated into most of the European languages, and Les Episodes mira- culciix dc Lourdes (1883). LASSO I Port, 7oco, Sp. lazo. snare, from Lat. hitjimis, snare, probably from Ulcere, to allure). A rope of hair, hemp, or hide, from sixty to one hundred feet long, w'ith a running noose at one end. It is thrown, mostly from horseback, with a whirl which takes the expanded noose over the horns or legs of the animal to be cajitured; a snatch tightens it and disables the (puirry. It was in use in South America and Jlexico before their discovery by the Spaniards, and is still used for catching wild horses on the Pampas. It is a favorite hunting equipment of the cowboys of northwestern Texas and Jlexico. LASSO, liis'so, Oklaxdo m (Ori.axdus Las- sf.s) (1520-94). A celebrated composer, born at Jlons, in Hainault. After having been a choir- boy in the Church of Saint Nicholas at Mons, he was taken in 1532, as a protege of the Viceroy of Sicily, to Sicily and ililan. In 1538 he settled in Naples, and after spending three years there, went to Rome, where he was nuieslni di cappella at Saint .lohn Latcran until 1548. In 1554 we find him at Antwerp ; in 1557 he went to Jluniili on the invitation of Duke Albert V. of Bavaria, and after being identified with the Court chapel, became in 1502 the maestro di cappella. This post he retained till his death. Lasso was the forerunner of Palestrina, At first he wrote madrigals and songs in the style of Arcadelt and Willaert, but he soon devoted his attention to sacred compositions, and it is upon these that his reputation rests. He was the last of the great masters of single coimterpoint, and he worked out his ideas clearly, brilliantly, and with a greater melodic charm than any of his predecessors. His best work, the Penitential J'salms of David (republished in modem nota- tion by Dehn. 1838) . compares favorably with the works of his greater contemporary, and his in- fluence on church music of his day was scarcely less than Palestrina's. Consult: Breitkopf und Hartel's edition of his works (Leipzig. 1894 ct seq.) : Sandberger, lieitriige zur Oesrhichte der haierische?! Hoflaprlle unter 0. di Jjasso (3 vols., Leipzig, 1894) : DeclSvc, Roland de Lassus, sa vie ct ses ceuvres (Mons, 1894) ; Delmotte,
