A work by the 19th-century composer Joseph Haydn Parry, characterized by traditional harmonic progressions and a sentimental aesthetic. It is musically distinctive for its adherence to late-Romantic salon tropes and clear thematic development.
At Henle 3 this is a late-beginner piece — comfortable hands-together playing is assumed, and musical shaping starts to matter. The main demands: a left hand with real melodic or rhythmic responsibility of its own; a true singing tone, with the melody floating above the accompaniment; and a waltz lilt that needs charm and a flexible left hand.
Students must balance the steady, rhythmic left-hand accompaniment against a expressive, singing right-hand melody.
Comparable difficulty and character — good candidates for what to learn next.
A level or two down with the same spirit — ideal if this piece is still out of reach.
Where this piece's skills lead: slightly harder works making similar technical demands.
Cigarette 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 Cigarette lasts about 4 minutes.
Cigarette 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 Für Elise by Ludwig van Beethoven, La fille aux cheveux de lin by Claude Debussy, Bright Eyes by Florence Price — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.