He participated in world premieres, including Louise Talma's Die Alkestiade and Alan Bush's Joe Hill.
[2] In the 1938/39 season, Witte was engaged at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City[5] for 47 performances, including as Froh in the Ring cycle and as the Fool in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov.
[6] From 1940 to 1942, he sang at the opera house in Breslau, where he took part in the world premiere of Hans Stieber's Der Dombaumeister on 7 February 1942.
[8] He also performed as Pinkerton in Puccini's Madama Butterfly alongside Erna Berger, as Richard in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera, and as Laca in Janáček's Jenůfa.
[3][11] His roles at the Staatsoper also included Verdi's Otello, Florestan in Fidelio, Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss, Cavaradossi in Puccini's Tosca, Hoffmann, Don José in Bizet's Carmen and Loge.
[9] He then returned to his Berlin home, where his repertoire shifted to character tenor [de] roles including Shostakovich's Die Nase, Harry McRae in Alan Bush's Joe Hill in the opera's world premiere in 1970[3] and Joachim Werzlau Meister Röckle (1976).