Giovanni Battista Somis was a teacher of the French violinist Jean-Marie Leclair. In 1722–1726, while in Turin, Leclair worked as a ballet master, played at royal wedding festivities, and improved his performing technique under Somis.
Somis is named among the famous pupils through whom his pedagogical work helped spread the Roman tradition of Corelli north of Italy and Piedmont, and Leclair is listed among his notable French students.
