[2][3] Her parents were German immigrants, Herman and Elsa Taucke; she would later take Telva as her stage name.

[3][4] She moved to New York in 1918 and sang in local churches and synagogues before being hired by the Metropolitan Opera.

[2] Among her regular roles were Brangane in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde and Mary in his The Flying Dutchman, and Lola in Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana.

[3] She also appeared a few times as Princess Eboli in Verdi's Don Carlos (1920–21) and Azucena in his Il trovatore (1923–24).

[2][3] Telva spent part of the summer before the opening of Norma studying the opera with soprano Rosa Ponselle, who would sing the title role, and Tullio Serafin, then one of the company's conductors.