[2] The scenario of Sallinen's fifth opera, between Kullervo (Los Angeles 1992) and King Lear (Helsinki 2000) is loosely based on Mozart's 1781 singspiel Die Entführung aus dem Serail, and on Ryszard Kapuściński's 1978 book The Emperor: Downfall of an Autocrat which described the fall of Haile Selassie, last Emperor of Ethiopia.

Rodney Milnes described the work as "almost as enigmatic as The King Goes Forth to France, but lighter in tone, a sort of late-20th-century operetta".

[5] A satire of the collapse of a corrupt regime, The Palace deals with how authoritarian power is wielded and its debilitating effect on those near its centre, which forms a compelling need for them to escape and be free.

Flutes 2 (1 piccolo), oboes 2, clarinets 2 (1), bassoons 2 (1 contra), horns 4, trumpets 2, trombone, tuba, harp, piano, strings.

When he learns that Valmonte has new skills acquired from abroad – such as being able to read the stars – the Bassa makes him Keeper of the Imperial Door and Secretary of Future Affairs.

In the palace gardens later the same day Petruccio and Ossip are plotting to obtain favours from the King and criticizing each other.

Kitty sets out a plan for her and Constance to escape from the palace during the feast that day by mingling in the crowd of beggars.

The main gates of the palace are then shut and quiet descends, the Royal bedchamber doors open and Valmonte emerges, with an escort and bearing the insignia of the autocrat.