Despair Op. 40 by Leo Kempinski is a salon-style character piece reflecting early 20th-century sentimentalism. It is musically distinctive for its lush, chromatic harmonies that bridge the gap between late Romanticism and light popular piano music.
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 true singing tone, with the melody floating above the accompaniment; rubato that must breathe naturally without losing the pulse; and chord voicing — bringing out one note inside a handful of others.
The primary challenge is maintaining a consistent, lyrical tone while navigating the frequent harmonic shifts.
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.
Despair (Op.40) 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 Despair (Op.40) lasts about 3 minutes.
Despair (Op.40) 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 Descriptive Agitato by Leo A. Kempinski, Gymnopédie No. 1 by Erik Satie, Gymnopédie No. 2 by Erik Satie — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.