Wikipedia:
Bartholomäus Crasselius (Crasselt) (* February 21, 1667 in Wernsdorf; † November 10, 1724 in Düsseldorf) was a Lutheran pastor and hymn writer.
Crasselius studied at the University of Halle. He belonged here to the circle of August Hermann Francke. After his exams, he first worked as a tutor, as was customary at the time for the Count of Schönburg at Glauchau Castle. In 1693/94 he was a tutor in the family of the merchant Franz Julius Pfeiffer in Lauenburg/Elbe. Because of his pietistic views, there were theological disputes with the Lauenburg pastor and superintendent Severin Walther Slüter. At the beginning of June 1694, Slüter caused Crasselius to be expelled from the country,[1] after which he was active in Electoral Saxony. Also reprimanded by the Saxon regional church for his pietistic attitude, he went to Nidda (Wetterau) as pastor in 1701 and finally to Düsseldorf in 1708, where he worked until his death in 1724.
Crasselius created a wealth of church songs, ten of which Anastasius Freylinghausen included in his "Geistreiches Gesang-Buch" in 1704. The Evangelisches Gesangbuch includes his 1695 hymn "Dir, dir, o Höchster, will ich singen" (EG 328). Originally, the opening line of this song was "Dir, dir JE-HO-VA, will ich singen." In the course of a revision, the name of God commonly used in German was replaced by the term "Höchster".
Note: Translated from the German version of Wikipedia into English.
