Theodor Döhler was an exceptionally celebrated virtuoso whose works were written to highlight finger agility and tonal beauty. This Ballade is an virtuosic salon work with cascading runs and elaborate melodic decoration.
Achieving evenness in the rapid, elaborate passage work is essential for a professional performance.
Comparable difficulty and character — good candidates for what to learn next.
Ballade (Op.41) is rated Henle level 6 of 9 — advanced repertoire, roughly ABRSM grades 7–8. In the RCM system it corresponds to about level 8.
You should be comfortable at Henle level 6 — meaning you can already play level 5–6 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 (Op.41) lasts about 6 minutes.
Ballade (Op.41) 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 Ballade No.1 by Theodor Döhler, Caprice espagnol by Moritz Moszkowski, Allegro de Concert by Alexander Scriabin — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.