 With Peter Pears, Mayer also prepared translations for Benjamin Britten, for inclusion in programs or scores of songs in Italian, German and Russian which he had set to music.She was the dedicatee and recipient of Auden's poem "New Year Letter" and the book that included it, "The Double Man" (1941).In "New Year Letter", Auden described her "learned peacefulness"; he regarded her the emotional equivalent of a mother, and was close to her for many years.