Teodor Wodnicki wrote this piece within the tradition of character pieces that explore a singular, evolving narrative arc. It is a largely forgotten work that demonstrates a solid command of keyboard color and emotive pacing.
Achieving an expressive, varied tone quality through pedaling and sensitive touch is the main requirement.
Comparable difficulty and character — good candidates for what to learn next.
Ballade (Op.4) is rated Henle level 5 of 9 — late intermediate repertoire, roughly ABRSM grades 6–7. In the RCM system it corresponds to about level 7.
You should be comfortable at Henle level 5 — meaning you can already play level 4–5 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.4) lasts about 5 minutes.
Ballade (Op.4) 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 by Nathan Shirley, Ballade in E minor, JB 2:43 by Bedřich Smetana, "Farò come colui che piange e dice" by Gioacchino Rossini — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.