Thought-provoking, indeed.

No, I don't think Love has gotten old or been forgotten, but I do think real love, as it ages, grows calmer and as it becomes better known, is less of a celebrity to be chased or fawned over and more of a serene grande dame (to carry forth your metaphor). Your young man is searching and infatuated, in love with love itself. Read another way, perhaps all the others know the real Love - its joys, its griefs, its little dramas, and its quiet comforts. Perhaps Love is just more real to them than to the young man.