A profound piece by the Cuban composer Nicolás Ruiz Espadero that reflects the Romantic tradition of the nocturne. It is distinct for its heavy emotional weight and wide-spanned, expressive chords.
The student must master the wide-span arpeggios in the left hand without breaking the rhythmic continuity.
Comparable difficulty and character — good candidates for what to learn next.
Canto del esclavo (Op.21) is rated Henle level 4 of 9 — intermediate repertoire, roughly ABRSM grades 5–6. In the RCM system it corresponds to about level 7.
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 Canto del esclavo (Op.21) lasts about 4 minutes.
Canto del esclavo (Op.21) 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 Adolf Gutmann, Ballade by Jacob Rosenhain, Amor ardente by Arthur H. Freyesleben — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.