Reader Clare passes this on:

Further to your post on the LA Times family of 16, BBC Radio’s feature ‘Composer of the Week’ is Bach, father of 20! (repeated June 12th thru 16th). I just relaxed this Sunday afternoon for a most pleasurable hour listening to a podcast from last Thursday (episode #4 of 5) with Donald McLeod recounting the creation of his Missa in B Minor for the Catholic Elector of Saxony (what we call Poland and Lithuania now), on which Wikipedia has this to say:

"…during this period, he completed the Mass in B Minor, which incorporated newly composed movements with parts of earlier works. In 1735, he presented the manuscript to the elector of Saxony in a successful bid to persuade the monarch to appoint him as Royal Court Composer. This appears to have been part of Bach’s long-term struggle to achieve greater bargaining power over the Leipzig Council. The audio excerpt, from one of the movements that was presented to the monarch, shows his use of festive trumpets and timpani. Although the mass was never performed during the composer’s lifetime, it is considered to be among the greatest choral works of all time."

For the next seven days, all five episodes listed here.