Enigmatic scale

[4] On August 5, 1888, Ricordi’s Gazzetta musicale di Milano challenged its readers to compose a piece that harmonized against this scale.

The Gazzetta published several solutions to this “scala-rebus” (scale-puzzle), including one by Crescentini, yet the whole affair might have become obscure had not Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi later composed his own solution, which became the basis of the "Ave Maria (sulla scala enigmatica)" (1889, revised 1898), part of the Quattro Pezzi Sacri (1898) [4 sacred pieces].

Both the fourth and fifth degrees of a scale form the basis of standard chord progressions, which help establish the tonic.

The scale was used by guitarist Joe Satriani in his piece "The Enigmatic"[1] from Not of This Earth (1986), Monte Pittman with the song "Missing" on "The Power Of Three", and by pianist Juan María Solare in his piano miniature "Ave Verdi" (2013).

It was also used in the song "Enigma" from the 1989 album The Spin by the Yellowjackets composed by Russell Ferrante and Jimmy Haslip .