I certainly have nothing against the harpsichord but it seriously lacks volume in a large space. It would be much more workable in a smaller and more intimate setting. It can sound rather harsh and too percussive but some of that may be the fault of the builder.

I don't think percussive instruments serve the liturgy well.

If the rector has forbidden its use, then it would seem best to me to obey and store up some treasure in heaven. Four months labor is nothing to sneeze at, and God greatly values obedience. So I agree that your work is not wasted.

As an academic question, I wonder if harpsichord could be used outside of the liturgy proper, e.g., to play a prelude or postlude or even to accompany a recessional.

As for historical and liturgical precedent, didn't King David accompany the psalms with a harp? And it's sort of like that.

Is it really a percussive instrument? My understanding is the the strings of the harpsichord are plucked, not hammered

I suppose you could argue that a couple of ways. I always remember the older lady after hearing someone play the harpsichord. She said it sounded like an animal digging at the sides of a metal building.

The instrument works for a certain body of literature. I am well aware that it once was part of the orchestra, but those orchestras were much smaller then. It doesn't have the power for orchestral and choral literature created after it fell into disuse. I guess you either love the instrument or hate it. If the one I have encountered is any guide, be ready to tinker with it often to keep it playable.

...digging at the sides...

This is definitely the reaction of some cinder-minded individual who was neither musically discerning nor musically astute - the sort of remark to dismiss out of hand with a funny look.

I think the Ordinariate Church in London has one in their loft...

I think the Ordinariate Church in London has one in their loft...

Yes! I was there a few years ago, looking at Embassy Chapel music mss for my PhD. In the 18th century the church was originally part of the Portuguese Embassy, so one of the few places Catholics could openly attend Mass before the Catholic Emancipation Act. It was well known for its music (Samuel Webbe, Vincent Novello and other English Catholic musicians were associated with it). and has a fascinating collection of church music used at that time. Worth asking to see it should anyone be in London with time to spare.
The harpsichord was being tuned in the same room where I was looking at the manuscripts. All the twanging was quite a distraction as I tried to concentrate.
It wasn't in a loft at that time just some ground floor room, and presumably was being used if they were bothering to tune it.

Wow so many dissapointing responses. It's clear that many of you folks have no experience with a historically built harpsichord that is well voiced and tuned. The harpsichord as a percussion instrument???? What???
I beg to differ with most of your opinions. At my last parish, we had a fine Hubbard in the chapel that seated maybe 100. It worked perfectly as an instrument to accompany hymns.
In our present chapel, I was not proposing that it would accompany congregational singing (the space seats 300). But rather as a something to enhance the liturgy instrumentally or perhaps to accompany psalms.
Thanks to those who came up with some references, as for the rest of you, look us Gustav Leonhard on Youtube!.
The question here is that the instrument was completely banned from ANY use in the chapel, while guitars multiply...was looking for some historical support, not ill informed opinion.
As well, I can name at least 6 churches in my city that have harpsichords in their churches and use them.

Well I agree, but the rector does not want it at all...its the same old story....

I suspect that most people have never heard a harpsichord live. Some would remember Lurch playing one on the Addams family but that's about it.

I once played for a church that had a, believe it or not, celesta on the organ. It actually was quite nice when paired with pieces that worked well with it. I would suspect a harpsichord would be no different. However, some digital harpsichords are not that pleasant to hear. More like a harpies-chord.

In college I conducted, by default, the Christmas section of the Messiah. We had a harpsichord and strings to work with and they sounded wonderful. I wouldn't use that combination liturgically, unless it were definitely baroque music, and even then I would doubt the use of the harpsichord because it is percussive.

I would say the same regarding the harp and other plucked strings.

CharlesW - do you have recommendations for liturgical music that would suit the organ you describe?

I didn't describe an organ only a harpsichord. But since you asked, Anthem, Gather us In, One Bed Three Bodies Menage a Trois all would sound like an animal scratching against a metal building.

I, certainly, would much prefer a harpsichord to a piano or guitar.
If one had an organ, though, I cannot imagine that it wouldn't be given 'pride of place' as the instrument of liturgy.

It is curious that...
CharlesW points out a friend of his who described a harpsichord as sounding like an animal scratching at a metal building. No doubt, there may be harpsichords that do so.
I am perplexed, though, as to why he didn't mention that by far most harpsichords DON'T.

Indeed, Charles -
David Ponsford, in his book about French organ music of the age of Louis XIV, goes to some length to reveal that by the dawn of the XVIIIth century the organ in France was, in fact, played much like the harpsichord, with harpsichord ornamentation, harpsichord arppecgiation of chords, etc., all owing to the fact that the harpsichord was the dominant instrument in society at large. I highly recommend his book to all. It is full of well-documented surprises.

bhcordova... while that is true, i think the point kathy is making is that it has an attack and a decay... a not so obvious point, but valid nonetheless.

Bhcordova, I've said percussive, not percussion.

I have been using the harpsichord on festive post-postlude occasions (or, if someone prefer, one-piece mini-recitals after Mass) after a few very special Masses or after a few Marriages. The last case was the Mass of Christ the King Last Oct sunday EF Mass). After the liturgical procession at the end of the Mass and singing a cantus varius, we performed the A. Schmelzer Sonata "Victori der Christen" for violin and B.C. (or "Die Türkenschlacht bei Wien 1683"), which is an adaptation of HF Biber's Rosenkranzsonate Nr. 10 for the program that chronicles the siege of the Turks to Vienna and the consecutive victory of the Christians. Again, a solo harpsichord after a Mass-related hymn during and shortly after the end procession. Anyway, leave the harpsichord for extraordinary occasions because extraordinary is within the liturgy.

Can anyone link to a video of a harpsichord that does not sound percussive? I would love to hear what you are hearing.

I've been trying hard not to use the word "banjo." Mutatis mutandis, obviously.

Famous crossword clue: Pole with lots of pluck.
Answer: Wanda Landowska.

Gustav Leonhardt played harpsichord with great sensitivity, and the solo harpsichord at all percussive in this performance (Sarabande from the Suite in F minor, BWV 823):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqSqwNdakmo&list=RDcmx6LrW2hYc&index=3

I have read that practicing organ in those Baroque days required hiring someone to pump the bellows and playing in an often freezing church. It was easier and cheaper to practice on the harpsichord and avoid the inconvenience and costs for someone to operate the bellows. It went on to say the harpsichordists brought their techniques to the organ with them.

Percussive, yes - percussion, no.

If we really want to change things up, how about no instruments with the congregation singing in a minimum of 4-parts a la Eastern Orthodox? *runs away

Kathy has just spoken a great truth.
(Alas, I hear that even the Orthodox, at least in this country, are beginning here and there to avail themselves of organs and other instruments.)

Yes... yes, it is indeed!