Stephan Elmas's Fantaisie draws heavily from the virtuosic tradition of the late 19th-century salon repertoire. It is characterized by its florid melodic ornamentation and lush, idiomatic piano writing.
At Henle 6 this is an advanced piece that assumes fluent technique and rewards mature interpretation. The main demands: rubato that must breathe naturally without losing the pulse; a true singing tone, with the melody floating above the accompaniment; and sweeping arpeggio figures that must stay smooth across positions.
Beyond that, expect fine finger independence within the hand.
Achieving fluid, clean ornamentation against a stable, pulse-oriented left hand is the core technical hurdle.
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.
Fantaisie is rated Henle level 6 of 9 — advanced repertoire, roughly ABRSM grades 7–8. In the RCM system it corresponds to about level 9.
You should be comfortable at Henle level 6 — meaning you can already play level 5–6 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 Fantaisie lasts about 6 minutes.
Fantaisie 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 No.1 by Stephan Elmas, Fantaisie-Mazurka by Stephan Elmas, Fantaisie-Polonaise by Stephan Elmas — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.