It's a general feeling that might be shared by lots of people. In the Classical era (think Mozart and early Beethoven), moving to the subdominant was seen as reducing tension.
The whole generation of tension in a Classical sonata form is by modulating to the dominant early on and gradually returning to tonic. Subdominant modulations would be used near the end to achieve a sense of resolution before a final, decisive dominant to tonic movement.
Those are massive generalizations, but that is kind of the point: the meaning of certain gestures changes with time, place, and culture. There are no hard rules in music, except when there are, but even then they're mostly relative.
The whole generation of tension in a Classical sonata form is by modulating to the dominant early on and gradually returning to tonic. Subdominant modulations would be used near the end to achieve a sense of resolution before a final, decisive dominant to tonic movement.
Those are massive generalizations, but that is kind of the point: the meaning of certain gestures changes with time, place, and culture. There are no hard rules in music, except when there are, but even then they're mostly relative.