A character piece in the late Romantic style, focusing on sentimentality and longing. Its distinctiveness arises from the lyrical, melody-driven right hand set against arpeggiated accompaniment.
Prioritize beautiful tone production and careful phrasing to create the desired nostalgic atmosphere.
Comparable difficulty and character — good candidates for what to learn next.
By-gone Days is rated Henle level 4 of 9 — intermediate repertoire, roughly ABRSM grades 5–6. In the RCM system it corresponds to about level 6.
You should be comfortable at Henle level 4 — meaning you can already play level 3–4 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 By-gone Days lasts about 4 minutes.
By-gone Days 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 'O sole mio by Eduardo Di Capua, Belle of the Ball by Leroy Anderson, Broadway Melody by Nacio Herb Brown — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.