“Nocturne in Three Scenes” was composed in 1921. Two years prior, in 1919, Palmgren achieved great success performing his Piano Concerto No. 3, “Metamorphoses,” at the “Nordic Days” music festival held in Copenhagen, Denmark. This led to him being called “the Chopin of the North” and “the Schumann of the North,” establishing Palmgren’s firm position in Western Europe as an outstanding Nordic pianist and a composer of piano music. He traveled to Paris from late December 1920 to early March 1921. Furthermore, he would go on to teach composition at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, USA, until 1926. Given that the rights to this work were sold to the Finnish publisher Westerlund on March 31, 1921, and subsequent works were sold to American publishers, it is presumed that this piece was completed just before his departure for America, likely during his stay in Paris.

Comprising three movements, each piece depicts a nocturnal scene. No. 1, “Stars Twinkle,” is a fantastical work depicting the onset of night, with stars shimmering in the sky. No. 2, “Song of the Night,” evokes a sweet yet terrifying passion lurking in the darkness. No. 3, “Dawn,” as its name suggests, portrays the break of day, imbued with a lyricism akin to Impressionism. Although there are slight differences in each, a characteristic ostinato motif, moving up and down between chords, is employed throughout the entire work.

No. 1, “Stars Twinkle”

D-flat major, Andante, non troppo lento, Binary form

Throughout the piece, a simple, chorale-like melody, formed by chords in the middle register, is sung beneath an ostinato in the high register, imitating the twinkling of stars. After a short two-bar introduction, the melody, divided into two halves, is each repeated twice in the same manner. Occasionally, a bass line is added in the lower register, but this is very sparse, and the music consistently floats in an ethereal tranquility. The piece quietly concludes at its end, adorned by subtle ascending arpeggios, with the final tonic note shimmering.

No. 2, “Song of the Night”

F minor, Non troppo lento, Ternary form

The motif used as an ostinato in No. 1 shifts to the lower register, and the main melody also develops, imitating it. An effective contrast is created with No. 1, which was developed predominantly in the high register. The melody is fundamentally written with chorale-like chord progressions, continuing from No. 1, but occasional non-harmonic tones create the work’s distinctive character. After a transitional passage, the middle section moves to the high register, accompanied by pianistic passages of arpeggios, and returns to the main melody after a cadenza-like flourish. The latter half follows the same progression as the first, but the range is extended by an octave both upwards and downwards, and the sound is greatly expanded by chords. The piece concludes with a very large-scale climax, accompanied by the indication “tutta forza.”

No. 3, “Dawn”

E-flat major, Liberamente – Presto – Lento elegiaco, Ternary form

Although the written key signature and final chord indicate E-flat major, the music is generally colored by whole-tone harmonies, making the tonality ambiguous. The first half, which can be considered an introduction, develops as if the scent of morning rises in stages, based on the dominant B-flat. Here too, the ostinato motif that permeates the entire work forms its core. Gradually, the music builds, expanding from pp to f, but eventually fades away to ppp while repeating the main motif. The subsequent middle section generally develops over a bass on the tonic E-flat, but the music proceeds with the sense of tonality remaining ambiguous. Along with what could be called Palmgren’s unique harmonic sensibility, the music is elevated into a Scriabin-esque ecstasy, but then, in the latter half, it drops to a pp dynamic and no further volume is required thereafter. Repeating a passage that can be considered a shortened version of the first half, the piece finally reaches a pppp, as if demanding the disappearance of sound, along with a deceleration of tempo.