Francesco Rosselli (Francois Roussel, 1517-1577) was a musician who made his career in Rome. As his madrigals were published under various italianized forms of his name (Rosselli, Rossello, Roscelli, etc) historians have generally concluded that he was Italian, but one document referrs to him as ‘Franciscus Roussel gallus’. All we know of his activities outside Italy is that before 1568 he was a protégé of the seneschal Guillaume de Gadagne in Lyon. Two lists of the famiglia of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese show Roussel among the 11 musicians employed by the cardinal in 1544 and as a member of his household in 1563. This relationship may help to explain certain items in the composer's biography, in particular his nomination by the cardinal to the position of magister puerorum of the Cappella Giulia in 1548 and his appointment as maestro di cappella of S Lorenzo in Damaso in 1564. He was employed at S Luigi dei Francesi from 1566 to 1571 and at S Giovanni in Laterano in the years 1572–5. He published three volumes of madrigals and a volume of chansons, in addition to numerous church hymns.
