Immanuel Liebich’s Ballade is a modest, heartfelt work often intended for the home performer. It features an accessible, song-like melody supported by light, rhythmic textures common in mid-Victorian piano music.
Focus on the balance of the melody against the accompaniment, ensuring a natural, song-like flow.
Comparable difficulty and character — good candidates for what to learn next.
Ballade 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 Ballade lasts about 3 minutes.
Ballade 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 Berceuse by Joseph Lefébure, Bluebells by Beatrice Mary Hall, Berceuse by René Esclavy — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.