After attending a business school from 1895 to 1900, Vitting studied singing at the St. Petersburg conservatory
with Gabel, and further with Ljubimov and the tenor Klementyev.
1904–06, Vitting studied in Milan with Delfiume.
In 1906, he made his debut in Piacenza as Edgardo, and then sang
in Milan and Parma. After returning to Russia, he was hired by the
Narodnij dom in St. Petersburg (1907).
1909–1917, Vitting was at the Mariinskij (debut as
Sobinin on 30 August 1909 with P. Pavlov, M. Kovalenko, E. Zbrueva, conducted by Nápravnik; last performance as Pinkerton on
28 December 1917 with E. Popova, M. Karakash, conducted by A. Coates). In 1913, he sang in Kazan.
From 1918, he lived
in Riga, where he was involved in the management of the opera house.
Vitting toured England, France (1924–26, 1934), Monaco, Spain (1924–26, 1932, 1934: Madrid, Barcelona),
Italy (1924–26, 1932), Germany (1928: Berlin), Yugoslavia (1929–1931: Belgrade, Zagreb and
Ljubljana), Romania (1932: Bucharest), USA (1933, 1933–36: New York, Philadelphia), China (1929:
Harbin, Shanghai), Japan (1929), Czechoslovakia (1934), Finland, Lithuania, Estonia.
He sang in Odessa (1926), Sverdlovsk (1927/28), and Tbilisi (1927).
His last appearance took place in 1946 in Riga as Éléazar.
His repertory included:
Troubadour (Chudo roz/The miracle of roses by P. Schenk, 1913), Erik, Pinkerton,
Erekle (Izmena/The treason by Ippolitov-Ivanov), Indian guest, Sadko, German, Sinodal, José,
Sobinin, Finn, Bajan, Vladimir Igorevich, Grigorij, Ruald (Rogneda),
Éléazar, Radames, Loris, Siegmund, Tannhäuser, ...
From 1920, besides his appearances in opera, he taught at the Riga conservatory
(up to 1926 and then again 1940–50), at the Lithuanian National Conservatory
in Kaunas 1936–40, at the Minsk conservatory 1950–59. Among his students were:
I. Bushkin, N. D. Vorvuleŭ, Valeryj Glushakoŭ,
Kazys Gutauskas,
A. Samaradaŭ, ...
He made more than 80 recordings
from 1910 to 1934: Muztrest, Gramophone, Pathé, RAOG, and Amour.
