Pastoral work dated around start of Renaissance given to Academy (8)

I believe the answer is:

serenata

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'academy' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I can't see?

I can't explain the remainder of the clue.

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(Other definitions for serenata that I've seen before include "Country work" , "piece of music" , "Pastoral cantata" , "Musical composition" , "Notes" .)

I've seen this clue in The Sunday Times and The Times.

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