Florentine Camerata
In 1931 Pirrotta earned a degree in art history from the University of Florence after having already earned a diploma in organ performance. He established himself as an important academic with his first book, "Il Sacchetti e la Tecnica Musicale" (1935, with Ettore Li Gotti) which focused on the music and poetry of the Trecento. He went on to publish several more works on that topic and became one of the most important scholars on the Italian Ars Nova, Florentine Camerata, and early opera. In 1970 his book "Li Dui Orfei" (later published in English in 1982 as "Music and Theater from Poliziano to Monteverdi"), which traced the pre-history of opera, was awarded the Kinkeldey Award by the American Musicological Society.