Ziani was an operatic composer who also wrote oratorios, some sacred vocal pieces and instrumental works in the sonata form. He was in service at S. Maria Maggiore at Bergamo as its choir master and succeeded Cavalli as the master of the chapel at St. Mark's in Venice. The first opera composed by Ziani, "La guerriera spartana," was performed in 1654 followed by other works which were characterized with da capo arias, music that accentuated the mood of the libretto, musical ideas depicting persons and events, and a burlesque attitude in his comic operas. ~ Keith Johnson, Rovi