Raff Symphony 7

[JimL]

By the way, I've always suspected Brahms to have composed the 3rd movement for his fellow composer's 8th.

Doubtful.  Brahms may have been a fair to gifted melodist, but he couldn't hold a candle to Dvorak.  However, there are certain structural similarities between the third movements of Dvorak S 8 and Brahms S 2.  Nevertheless, the man who refused to compose a new finale for his mentor's piano concerto at the behest of his mentor's widow certainly wouldn't have composed a movement for his disciple's symphony, even if asked (which is equally improbable, since said disciple already had 7 symphonies under his belt at that point).

[eschiss1]

By the way, I've always suspected Brahms to have composed the 3rd movement for his fellow composer's 8th.

Doubtful.  Brahms may have been a fair to gifted melodist, but he couldn't hold a candle to Dvorak.  However, there are certain structural similarities between the third movements of Dvorak S 8 and Brahms S 2.  Nevertheless, the man who refused to compose a new finale for his mentor's piano concerto at the behest of his mentor's widow certainly wouldn't have composed a movement for his disciple's symphony, even if asked (which is equally improbable, since said disciple already had 7 symphonies under his belt at that point).

I agree with most of what you say, including the bit that Brahms "may" have been a "fair to gifted" melodist (since he was rather considerably better than that in my subjective opinion!) - whether he could hold a candle to Dvorak I don't want to judge.  The rest of the argument seems quite on target, though...