| It is no mistake that many symphonies have movements I and IV ( Outer Movements) in the same key or the Minor and then the Major key. In the Classical Period ( roughly 1730 to 1820) the second movement is often in the key of the sub-dominat ( or IV ) in relation to the first and often the third movement is a return to the tonic of the piece. There are numerious variants of tis scheme, but in the Symphonies of Haydn and Mozart you will find this scheme. Formally and textually, the conventions are that First Movement is a sonata-allegro movement, The second movement is an Adagio or Andante of a more lyrical texture in a ternary or simplified sonata form. The thrid movement is a Minuet or later called a Scherzo in Beethoven and later, and the Finale is another Sonata-Allegro or a Rondo form. The Concerto of the same period usually omits the minuett or scherzo, having a three movement formula and the Rondo is the perferred finale. Sometimes in the Symphony the inner movements are reversed in order. A very famous example of this latter varient is the Beethoven Ninth Symphony.
Of course, there are many exceptions to these generalization, more than four movements in a Symphony, etc., but the point is that not only do we remember the specfic sequence, but the generalized sequence has a psychological reality much like that of the formula in drama from Aristotle to the present. The struggling and conflicted nature of a first movement and the contrasting processes of the inner movements followed by the resolution contained in the finale is psychologically compelling.
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