Response to Holsinger - Croom

According to Holsinger, Hildegard viewed the musically embodied life as a disciplined life; taking proper care of one's body "lead[s] to musical "tempering" of the body, the strings of which will resonate correctly only if the body is properly fed" (p. 96). The idea seems to be that, without disciplined action towards the regular maintenance of the body (e.g. eating moderately), the human body may no longer "bind together its parts into a musical whole" (p. 96). But if this really is Hildegard's view about the musical body, then it seems that it might contrasts with her musical style in, for instance, O viridissima virga. This is because, deviating from standard practice, Hildegard's use of internal centonization in O viridissima virga was for the purpose of avoiding to use "the same melodic fragment over and over as a simple reference point" (p. 118). That is, in order to achieve greater expressivity, Hildegard strategically deviated from the regularized, "tempered" use of simple repetitions of melodic fragments. Further, Holsinger later explains that Hildegard's compositions anticipate Bach's in that the works were intentionally composed so as to be physically demanding to the point of inducing suffering in musicians that would resemble religious suffering (p. 135). So what I find strange is this: if it's essential to Hildegard's conception of the body that it remain 'musical' in that it remains harmoniously tempered and regularly disciplined, is this in conflict with her musical style whereby, in order to attain higher expressivity, she breaks with 'the harmoniously tempered and regularly disciplined' technique of standard centonization? For Hildegard, is the musical life one that is tempered so as to be healthy, one that is untempered so as to be expressive, or harmed so as to be religiously humbled? Or is the musical life a struggle between all of these?