A piece designed to evoke the gentle, undulating movement of water through constant sixteenth-note arpeggiation. Its style sits comfortably in the tradition of 19th-century salon Impressionism.
Achieving a smooth, flowing legato in the right-hand figures is essential for the barcarolle effect.
Comparable difficulty and character — good candidates for what to learn next.
Au fil de l'eau is rated Henle level 3 of 9 — late beginner repertoire, roughly ABRSM grades 4–5. In the RCM system it corresponds to about level 5.
You should be comfortable at Henle level 3 — meaning you can already play level 2–3 pieces cleanly. Learning it one level early is possible as a stretch piece, but more than that usually leads to months of frustration.
A typical performance of Au fil de l'eau lasts about 4 minutes.
Au fil de l'eau is available as free public-domain sheet music on IMSLP — the score is linked directly from this page.
Pieces at a comparable difficulty and character include Butterfly by Aleksandr Ilyinsky, Autumn Idyll by Cyril Scott, Berceuse by Jāzeps Vītols — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.