In 1874 Saint-Saëns retired from the church called the Madeleine and Fauré became choirmaster. In the same year he became engaged to Marianne Viardot, daughter of the singer Pauline, but then Marianne broke off the engagement. He travelled to Weimar to hear Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. Fauré liked Wagner’s music but it did not influence him.