Giovanni Battista Sammartini (1700 or 1701 - January 17, 1775) was an Italian composer, organist, choirmaster and teacher. He counted Gluck among his students, and was highly regarded by younger composers including Johann Christian Bach. It has also been noted that many stylizations in Joseph Haydn's compositions are similar to those of Sammartini, although Haydn denied any such influence. Wikipedia
The definitive Wikipedia entry for Giovanni Battista Sammartini. Wikipedia is the biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Battista_Sammartini