John Blitheman (c.1525-91) was a member of the Chapel Royal during the Elizabethan era, and a minor figure in the constellation of English composers of the Tudor period. His compositions are few, but he counted John Bull as a pupil and so had a more lasting legacy than his surviving output would otherwise permit.

The sole source for ‘In pace’, which includes similar settings of the same text by Sheppard, Tallis, Taverner and Tye is a set of four partbooks (British Library Add. MSS 17802-5) designed for use in a small institution, perhaps that of a domestic chapel. The style of all of these pieces is simple, but not without charm. These partbooks transmit the only other known vocal works by Blitheman, namely two contrasting settings of ‘Gloria, laus et honor’, a processional hymn sung on Palm Sunday. In addition to these pieces, a number of his keyboard works are transmitted in The Mulliner Book (British Library Add. MS 30513), a wide variety of works in keyboard score including liturgical hymn settings, secular works and contrapuntal exercises.

‘In pace’ appears in the Sarum liturgy as the Respond for Compline during Lent, a text drawn from two psalm verses (4:9 and 131 (132):4). However, its modern use need not be confined solely to the season of Lent, as it is an eminently suitable text not only for Compline but for the office of Evensong.