Michael Maybrick, known for his vocal works as Stephen Adams, brings a vocal sensibility to this piano work. It utilizes arpeggiated figures to mimic the cascading movement of water in a garden setting.
The performer must manage the wide-span arpeggios while keeping the cantabile melody singing over the texture.
Comparable difficulty and character — good candidates for what to learn next.
By The Fountain is rated Henle level 3 of 9 — late beginner repertoire, roughly ABRSM grades 4–5. In the RCM system it corresponds to about level 4.
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 By The Fountain lasts about 4 minutes.
By The Fountain 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, Black Beauty by Duke Ellington, American Beauty by Joseph Francis Lamb — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.