A sentimental miniature reminiscent of the mid-Romantic era. It is characterized by its drooping, sighing melodic motifs and expressive phrasing.
Prioritize seamless phrasing and delicate dynamic control through the melodic sighing motifs.
Comparable difficulty and character — good candidates for what to learn next.
Breaking Hearts 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 Breaking Hearts lasts about 4 minutes.
Breaking Hearts 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 Lovers by Shuwen Zhang, Berceuse du petit soldat blessé by Cécile Chaminade, Albumblatt by Carl Filtsch — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.