This follow-up piece continues the salon tradition established by Steinwender. It utilizes standard romantic textures to create a brief, sentimental atmosphere.
At Henle 3 this is a late-beginner piece — comfortable hands-together playing is assumed, and musical shaping starts to matter. The main demands: sweeping arpeggio figures that must stay smooth across positions; careful pedaling — clarity depends on the foot as much as the fingers; and a true singing tone, with the melody floating above the accompaniment.
Focus on the legato connection between the melody and the accompanying figures.
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.
Elisabeth 2 is rated Henle level 3 of 9 — late beginner repertoire, roughly ABRSM grades 4–5. In the RCM system it corresponds to about level 3.
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 Elisabeth 2 lasts about 3 minutes.
Elisabeth 2 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 Elisabeth by Otto Steinwender, 'O sole mio by Eduardo Di Capua, Dream Children by Edward Elgar — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.