Höchsterwünschtes Freudenfest (Most highly desired festival of joy),[1] BWV 194,[a] is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach.

The cantata text was written by an anonymous poet, including two stanzas of Johann Heermann's hymn "Treuer Gott, ich muß dir klagen" (1630) and two stanzas of Paul Gerhardt's "Wach auf, mein Herz, und singe" (1647).

Bach scored the work for three vocal soloists, a four-part choir and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of three oboes, bassoon, strings and continuo.

[3] The cantata text was written by an anonymous poet, who took Solomon's prayer for the dedication of the temple as a starting point to reflect the church as the house of God.

[3] He included as movement 6, ending Part I, stanzas 6 and 7 of Johann Heermann's hymn "Treuer Gott, ich muß dir klagen" (1630), and as the closing chorale, stanzas 9 and 10 of Paul Gerhardt's "Wach auf, mein Herz, und singe" (1647).

[4][5] Scholars such as John Eliot Gardiner assume that Bach based the cantata on a lost work (BWV 194a), probably composed at Köthen for an unknown occasion.

Höchsterwünschtes Freudenfest shows musical similarities also to Preise, Jerusalem, den Herrn, BWV 119, written for the inauguration of the Leipzig town council a few weeks earlier.

It is scored for three vocal soloists (soprano (S), tenor (T) and bass (B)), a four-part choir (SATB), and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of three oboes (Ob), bassoon (Fg), two violins (Vl), viola (Va) and basso continuo.

Part I begins with a chorus in the style of a French overture with a solemn opening and a fast fugal central section.

Part II begins with the tenor singing a recitative and a da capo aria in a minor mode, characterized by its extensive use of dotted rhythms.