ZIANI, MARC' ANTONIO  BIOGRAPHY

Marc’Antonio Ziani was a leading composer of opera, first in Venice, then, from 1700, in Vienna. He was held in high esteem as a master of counterpoint and form, as well as a sensitive setter of texts. In his operas he often wrote virtuosic solos for various instruments. This is certainly the case with Trombe d’Ausonia, in which both the singer and the trumpeter are required to execute passages of no mean difficulty. The aria is from La Flora, on a libretto by Matteo Noris, first staged at the Teatro Sant’Angelo in Venice in December 1680, which Ziani’s illustrious colleague Sartorio had left unfinished. It appears in Act II, Scene 19, in which the hero, Geminio, rejoices at the failure of a rebellion. His jubilation is expressed by elaborate arpeggios that make this short but effective aria arguably the most virtuosic of all Venetian trumpet arias.