A character piece intended to evoke the sound of bells through light staccato chords and melodic ornaments. It is a quintessential example of 19th-century American salon music meant for domestic performance.
Achieving the ringing bell effect requires precise control of light staccato and subtle pedaling.
Comparable difficulty and character — good candidates for what to learn next.
Bell Goes a Ringing Waltz (Op.199) is rated Henle level 3 of 9 — late beginner repertoire, roughly ABRSM grades 4–5. In the RCM system it corresponds to about level 3.
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 Bell Goes a Ringing Waltz (Op.199) lasts about 4 minutes.
Bell Goes a Ringing Waltz (Op.199) 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 Belle of the Ball by Leroy Anderson, Waltz in A minor by Frédéric Chopin, Amapola by Joseph M. Lacalle — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.