The daughter of a medical officer in the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg civil service, Moran-Olden's surname at birth was Tappehorn but she later changed it to Olden because of her family's opposition to a stage career.

At Frankfurt, her roles included Maid Marian in the world premiere of Albert Dietrich's Robin Hood and Donna Anna in the production of Don Giovanni which inaugurated the new opera house in 1880.

She went on to sing there as Leonore in Fidelio, Sélika in L'Africaine, Brünnhilde in both Siegfried and Die Walküre, Fricka in Das Rheingold, Fidès in Le Prophète, Azucena in Il trovatore, and Amneris in Aida.

Other roles which she successfully essayed in the course of her career were Senta in Der Fliegende Holländer, Isolde in Tristan und Isolde, Ortrud in Lohengrin, Eglantine in Euryanthe, Frau Fluth in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana, and the title role of Carmen.

[3][1] Moran-Olden divorced Carl Moran and in 1897 married the renowned Wagnerian bass-baritone, Theodor Bertram, who was fourteen years her junior.