Ave Maria on the Enigmatic Scale

The piece has been inspired by the Ave Maria of Giuseppe Verdi, who was among the first composers to adopt the Enigmatic scale, which was in turn coined by Adolfo Crescentini in 1888. This musical scale is pretty unusual, with elements of both major and minor scales, as well as the whole-tone scale. Composer's note: Despite the weird sound of such a scale, I made an effort to create a natural harmonization of it (most of which on "Cantus Firmus"), in order to show its intrinsic richness. However, the "Cantus Firmus" - shown to basses from measure 3 to 10 and afterwards transposed into pseudo-subdominant to tenors from 28 to 35, and again to basses from 36 to 40 - is not the principal element. Actually, I wanted to focus the attention on the strict counterpoint between the voices, which is the real element leading to the increase and decrease of musical tensions. Thus, the composition starts and ends with pureness of intervals of fifth, which have also a clear  mystic-symbolic meaning. These intervals suggest the further material for the whole development of the piece.