Moderncv formatting not appearing when compiled

Question

I recently re-installed MiKTeX and had to re-install moderncv as well, which I did through the Package Manager. I am working on a cover letter file I started before I reinstalled both, and it compiles, but without any of the moderncv formatting (header, personal info, font, paragraph spacing). I don't get any error messages. It just looks like I typed it straight into the editor with no markup. I have no idea what the problem is (and yes, in case you're wondering, I'm still a bit wobbly with LaTeX).

\documentclass[10pt,letterpaper,sans]{moderncv} 

\moderncvstyle{classic} 
\moderncvcolor{blue} 

\usepackage{lipsum} 

\usepackage[scale=0.85]{geometry} 

\firstname{fab4} 
\familyname{lover} 

\begin{document}



\recipient{}{Company\\Address\\City, Town, Postcode} % Letter recipient
\date{\today} % Letter date
\opening{Dear Hiring Manager,} % Opening greeting
\closing{Sincerely yours,} % Closing phrase

\makelettertitle % Print letter title

Insert text here

\makeletterclosing % Print letter signature

\end{document}

I'm linking my logfile and a anonymized copy of my tex file (see above) as google docs because the logfile alone is too long to paste in, and I've no idea where it's gone wrong.

EDIT: I've just tried compiling the CV file and it works perfectly. I think it must be something to do with \makelettertitle because when I un-comment it out, I get the following error:

LaTeX Error: There's no line here to end.
 ...                                              
l.74 \makelettertitle

A different tex file with the same cover letter format as this one with \makelettertitle un-commented also works perfectly. What am I missing?!

Answer 1

The first argument of the recipient must not be empty.
\recipient{}{Company\\Address\\City, Town, Postcode} should be
\recipient{Wombat}{Company\\Address\\City, Town, Postcode}.

Wombat will be printed in bold face.

It is also possible to use
\recipient{\normalfont\itshape Wombat}{Company\\Address} to make it look like the other lines.