  The W49A star-forming region is embedded in a 10^6 solar mass molecular
cloud, one of the most massive in our Galaxy. It has been long known as one of
the most luminous radio HII regions, containing 30-40 compact and ultracompact
HII regions and several hot cores. We have detected a previously unknown
massive star cluster (Cluster 1) embedded in the W49 molecular cloud using JHKs
observations with SOFI+NTT. We find that the inferred mass of Cluster 1 is 1-2
x 10^4 solar masses, and is 2 pc in projected distance from the largest
grouping of ultracompact HII regions (including the Welch ring). We use the
extensive line-of-sight extinction to isolate a population of objects
associated with W49A, and use this sample to obtain a mass function. The slope
of the derived mass function for objects associated with W49A, -1.3 \pm 0.3, is
consistent with a Salpeter slope. About 3 pc away from the main star-forming
complexes seen in near-infrared and radio observations is an ~80 solar mass
star ionizing a compact H II region (object CC). We obtained adaptive optics
imaging with NACO on the VLT of the 1.5 pc surrounding this object to search
investigate the stellar initial mass function in the vicinity of a massive
star. On the global molecular cloud scale in W49, massive star formation
apparently did not proceed in a single concentrated burst, but in small groups,
or subclusters.
