Cast in the dark, dramatic key of F minor, Diamond Jubilee Overture is in a rather traditional overture form. A jutty introduction in low brass introduces the first theme, which is tossed between sections before a transition takes us to an allegro. Here a second, more melodic F minor theme appears. This second theme is intensely developed in multiple keys before the work slows down to an adagio, where a third melodic theme in Ab major first appears in clarinets. Several settings of this melody occur before the return of the jutty first theme, this time set in allegro fashion and introducing a short fughetta. The second theme then reappears before the work ends in a blazing, dramatic coda.